Trespasser
by OrangeSwirl
Summary: An old flame of Major Lorne's is the new officer in Atlantis. Will they avoid each other, or reunite. And what will happen when his love becomes possessed. She's still in there but has no control. Can Lorne and the Atlantis team figure it out and save her
1. Chapter 1:A New Officer

**Chapter 1:A New Officer**

Old memories and feelings raced through her mind as she watched Atlantis get closer and closer through the view-port on the Daedalus.

"Something the matter, Captain," Caldwell inquired.

"Huh, what?" Her mind jumped back to the here and now. "Oh, no sir. It's just going to take a little while to get back into the swing of things. Who knew that when I returned to the SGC that they'd be sending me to another galaxy?"

"Well I can assure you that things aren't that much different than what you're used to. Though you _are_ going to have to follow orders now, and not at your discretion." The Colonel gave her a stern look. "While Dr. Weir may be a civilian, she is in charge of this expedition and I expect you to follow her orders as if they were mine. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir." She turned back around to see Atlantis covering the entire view port.

_Holy… It's like flying over Manhattan. If that's the outside, I can only imagine what the inside of the city is like. I think I might just have to accidentally get lost when I go running. Hmmm, I wonder if Colonel Sheppard will care or not. Probably not since everyone says he's the polar opposite of Colonel Chrome Dome. Oy, if Caldwell was in charge there would have been no way Jack and General Laundry would have ever talked me into this. I still don't get why Jack thought I'd like to come here anyway. I mean he knows I can't face him, after what we went through. Urg. What am I going to say when I run into him? "Hi, I'm really sorry. Forgive me. Oh and I still love you. Anyway can we get back together?" Hah! Why did things have to go so wrong?_

She pulled her attention back to the matter at hand. The Daedalus had landed and her orders were to report to Dr. Weir and Colonel Sheppard for assignment. As she exited the tin can the crew called home she was greeted by an SO who directed her forward.

"Captain Madison?" She nodded. "This way. Colonel Sheppard and Dr. Weir are waiting in her office."

She followed the marine through the corridors and couldn't believe her eyes. Atlantis was everything she had imagined and more. As they entered Stargate Operations Alexa felt like a child lost in a daydream. While she had been apart of SG-7 and thought nothing could surprise her, the vast control room took her breath away. The SO motioned up the stairs and to the right. She thanked him for the escort and read the ancient greeting etched on the illuminated staircase before her and then slowly made her way up to Weir's office.

"Ah, Captain Madison. Please, come in. We were just discussing your assignment." Weir greeted the young woman as she walked through the door.

"Ma'am. Sir." She acknowledge Colonel Sheppard. "Well, if you're still deciding what to do with me I could come back later." Oh yes, Alexa was still lost in that daydream and wanted nothing more than to roam the city and become acclimated to her new home.

"You're not getting away that easy." Sheppard spoke up. "We were just deciding whether or not you should head up your own team, after a week or two of back-seat gating of course."

Weir chimed in. "Yes. I understand that as a Lieutenant you were apart of SG-7 for nearly a year and that you know how to handle these situations, but you _have_ been out of the Stargate program for over a year…"

"I completely understand where you are both coming from and I would have to agree, though I'm not quite sure about heading up a team myself. As of late, I haven't been very good at making the right decisions. I wouldn't want to put my team at risk. I'm sure if you read my file that you…"

"I have and I am aware of what you went through with your father's death. I'm very sorry. I never met him, but I've only heard wonderful things about him." Dr. Weir extended her condolences.

"Thank you ma'am. I have been able to move forward, but I just don't want to put myself or anyone around me in any rash situations. It just wouldn't be fair. So, what did you have in mind then?" the Captain quickly changed the subject.

"Oh, uh, well we couldn't help notice your camaraderie with Major Lorne, so we thought that would be a good place to start." The Colonel answered.

Alexa's eye's widened. "Excuse me sir?"

"Well, from your file it says that the two of you worked well together and seem to be good friends. So, we thought that putting you on a team headed by someone you knew would make the transition a little easier. Is there a problem with that?"

Alexa's mind raced. _Was there?_ She didn't know what to say. _Common Lexa, pull it together. What are you gonna do, avoid Marc the whole time you're here? That'll mean a lot of lonely time stuck in your room… _"Oh, no sir. No problem. Um, does the Major know about this?"

Weir continued. "Not yet, we thought we'd talk to you about it first. And seeing that you're fine with it, I'll be telling him when we're done here. That is, unless you'd like to tell him yourself?"


	2. Chapter 2:Who's That Girl

**Chapter 2:Who's That Girl**

Major Lorne was on his way to the Mess Hall when he spotted a civvies wearing blonde turn down the next corridor. _Hmm. Must be that new officer Weir mentioned. But it looked liked… Naw, couldn't have been. Don't even go there. But I will have to stop by and say hi. But first, food, all day off world makes even the Mess food good._ After filling up his tray with as much food as would fit he saw Dr.s McKay and Beckett sitting at the far end of the room and went over to join them.

"Hey Docs, anything new?" Lorne asked as he took a seat across from them.

"Just your eating habits Major. Hungry are we?" Carson replied. Lorne just smiled, picked up his fork and began eating.

"Well there is that new officer arriving today. Captain, er, uh, something. I hear she's blonde and quite attractive. And apparently she can read ancient. Haven't met her myself yet but she already sounds rather, alluring." Rodney gave his two cents.

Lorne and Carson looked at each other, glanced back at Rodney and rolled their eyes.

"Yes, and she's also in her 20's Rodney, much too young for you. But you can always try, unless you have a fear of rejection" Carson snickered as he got up to leave.

Lorne chuckled to himself, "Later Doc."

McKay was a little uneasy. "What you don't think a younger woman would be interested in me," he asked with chocolate icing on his lips.

"I think you should just stick with that cake Doc, obviously it hasn't rejected you," Lorne answered as he grinned with glee.

McKay stood up quickly very agitated. "Well who asked you," and stormed out of the Mess.

Lorne just shook his head. _That was too easy. I really gotta stop doing that to McKay, but it's so much fun… Hmm, that chocolate cake he had looked good though, think I'll grab a slice myself, and maybe one for our new Captain as a welcome gift. Chocolate cake? As a welcome gift? Oh that's a good one Marc, lets just stereotype her before ya meet her. Oh look, scones. Grab one of those instead._ Lorne grabbed a piece of cake and scone and went back over to the table to finish his desert. As he sat Colonel Sheppard walked up.

"Hey Major thought you should know we're putting the new Captain on your team for a bit, just 'till she gets settled in."

"Right sir, but uh, do I get a name? So far all I know about her is she's a USAF Captain in her 20's, blonde, and attractive. It'd be nice to have a little more to go by." Lorne responded.

"You've been talking to McKay haven't you?" Sheppard raised an eyebrow. "Well, actually you know more than I was allowed to tell you. She seems to want to talk to you about this herself." Lorne poised a question, Sheppard raised his hand. "Don't even say it, my lips are sealed. The only thing I can tell you is where her room is." Sheppard continued giving Lorne the directions to the Captain's quarters.

Colonel Sheppard left and as Lorne finished his cake he thought of who this young woman might be. _There's no way it could be her. She swore off the military. She was gonna run away and not look back, why would she we here? Naw, its not her. Lexa would never come back to the SGC, or would she? What if it is her, what am I going to say? I mean I can't just tell her that I still love her, but would she get it? I mean, the break up was her thing, she didn't want to have anything to do with the military after what happened to her dad, and who could blame her. Alright Marc, suck it up. Grab that scone and go say hi. And what if it isn't her… Relief? Ehh. Stop thinking about it and do it. _Lorne got up, grabbed the dessert and headed out of the Mess.


	3. Chapter 3:Reunion

**Chapter 3: Reunion**

Dr. Weir escorted Alexa to her new living quarters and helped her carry a few things. "My, you seem to have brought a lot. How'd you manage that?" Weir asked counting that the Captain had about 5 bags when usually everyone else had two or three.

"I like to keep busy. Besides it was part of the deal I made with Jack, er, General O'Neill. There were a few things we agreed upon, otherwise I wouldn't be here. I don't know why, but he _really_ wants me here," Lexa explained as they entered her room.

"Well, I'll look for your reports to be very prompt then." Weir looked to Lexa, who just smirked. As Weir began to walk out the door she stopped and turned back to the Captain. "It's not really my place, but your file was a little, shall we say holey. Your wanting to talk to Major Lorne about your assignment isn't anything I should worry about, is it? I mean, you seemed a little reluctant to join his team."

Lexa sighed. "He was a good friend who helped me through my father's death, and then I pushed him away. Its just, complicated that's all. We haven't spoken in quite some time." _Complicated? If that isn't the biggest understatement of the year?_

Weir nodded. "Well if there's anything you need don't be afraid to ask," and she exited the room.

Lexa was just about finished unpacking and decorating her room when she received a knock on her door. She was putting up a few posters across from the doorway so she had her back to the door and had the tape in her mouth so the visitor received a muffled "Enter".

On the other side of the door, a hesitant Lorne still had no idea if he would be walking straight into his past, or meeting a fresh new face. After a moment he waved his hand over the crystals and entered the room to find a sort of caramel blonde girl standing on a chair. As she turned around he tensed.

Lexa had a feeling that it was Marcus who had entered, after all Colonel Sheppard said he'd send him over. But even after all that thought of what to say to him all she could muster was "Hey". As she stepped off the chair every memory and feeling that she thought she packed away came rushing to the surface. She wanted nothing more than to run over and hug him, but how could she.

After a few seconds of silence Marcus broke the ice with "So, you dyed your hair? It's nice." _Your dyed hair looks nice? Oh yeah, that's a good one. Next time why don't you just stick your foot in your mouth and be done with it._

Lexa half smiled and looked up. "Oh, yeah. Just felt like a change I guess." _Oh this conversation is gonna get really far, really fast… Well, say something…_ "So, uh, you're looking good."

"Yeah, your looking pretty good yourself. And you made Captain, congrats." _Oh yea, that was smooth…_

The two could both feel how this conversation was going to get awkward really fast, unless one of them just came out and said. But things between them ended so coldly that neither one could say a word. If only they knew what the other still felt, but all they could think of was how things ended. Alexa grabbed her last bag and dumped it out over the bed. Medical tape, ace bandages, sparring gloves, a book on Tae Kwon Do, and a few other fighting implements spread across the sheets.

"Ah, still dealing with things through strenuous activity I see." Lorne meant as a joke, but it didn't come across to Lexa that way.

She raised and eyebrow and stared back at him. "Well, you know me," she paused. "Look, this wasn't my idea. Jack is behind it all. Apparently he's become my second father, and thinks it's a good idea to push me to face my fears. Though I don't know how being here is gonna help with that," she broke off. Lexa has a tendency to start rambling when put in an uncomfortable situation, and this was definitely one of those times, but luckily she caught herself before things got out of control. Lorne looked down as Lexa's stare turned to a frown. "Ok, I guess there is no good way to put this, so…" Their eyes met for the first time in over a year, "I'm sorry."


	4. Chapter 4:Opening Up

**Chapter 4: Opening Up**

Silence filled the room as they looked into each other's eyes, trying to read how the other felt. Thoughts, memories, feelings, flooded their minds as they tried to analyze the situation. What was next? Should they talk it through? Or blow it off, act like it never happened and stick to the matter at hand? Could they really work together, on the same team, with out emotions getting in the way? And what if they did talk it through, would it help? Would it ease tensions between them? Could they go back to being friends? Friends make up, why couldn't they? The break-up was because of a traumatic event, it was understandable, right?

Lorne broke the silence, "I get it, I do. I know what you were going through. But you just left. I was there for you, I wanted to help. But you just took off without a word. I…" he stopped, realizing that he just opened the can of worms and they were going fishing.

"I know, and you didn't deserve it, but… I was messed up. They had me seeing that shrink and taking all those drugs and antidepressants. I didn't know what to think, who to believe, trust. So I ran. I just couldn't deal that way." A tear fell down her cheek. "And I left behind the one thing that kept me sane, but I didn't know it then." She looked at Lorne, who couldn't help but feel that he put more blame on her than she deserved. He _did_ love her, but she's the one who left. But then again, the SGC forcing her to deal with her father's death through therapy and drugs drove her to it. If they had been left to deal with it themselves, would they still be together? Or would Alexa have gotten her self killed by throwing herself into her work? She dealt with her emotions through combat, and her being off world with a P-90, probably came across as a suicide attempt.

He walked over and gently wiped the tears from her face. "Hey, I know you were scared. I just didn't know what happened, whether you were alright or not. I know you wouldn't have wanted to talk about it, I just wish you would have come to me first. I think I was more worried than mad, until General O'Neill told me what you were doing," he tried to lighten the mood, "then I was just crazed. I can't believe you got yourself into Amateur Kick-Boxing. But if that's what helped, then…"

Lexa smiled. "You know me, and my strenuous activities. And it did. It helped me focus. Also gave me an excuse to get off all those meds," she roller her eyes.

They smiled at each other and both gave into a friendly hug. Finally, the tension was gone. They both came to realize that while what happened may have hurt, it was probably the right thing to do.

"So, this kick-boxing thing, win anything cool," Lorne grinned.

"What makes you think I ever won," Lexa answered modestly.

"Uh, you're you. One of the toughest chicks I've ever met."

"No, nothing cool. Just some big bucks. Was saving up for one of those new Eclipses. And what do you mean 'one of'?"

"An Eclipse? Sounds about right… Oh, uh, well there's this Athosian, Teyla, on Colonel Sheppard's team. It'd be interesting to see the two of you go at it that's all…"

Lexa titled her head and smirked, "Oh really?"

Lorne paused. "Gutter. Gutter, gutter, gutter." He smile back, "Yep, your definitely you again."

"Mind telling Jack that?" Lexa thought for a moment and then decided to just go for it. "So, us friends can be on the same team then?"

Lorne glared at her. "No, I hate having friends on my team." His smile brightened. "So, you need help putting this stuff away?"

"Um, I was planning on just dumping it in that drawer over there." They each grabbed some of the things emptied from her bag and threw them in the drawer. Lorne found a square package with a note on it.

"Hey, what's this," he asked as Lexa took it from him.

"Not sure." She opened the note and noticed it was from Jack. "Jack's way of helping, that's what."

"Oh a present. You gonna open it?"

"I think I know what it is, and I don't think I want to. Not sure I'm ready for that yet." Lorne looked at her puzzled and she quickly changed the subject. "Hey, you up for giving me a tour?"

"Yeah, sure. Now?" Lorne was still baffled by what was in the package.

Lexa nodded, put down the package, and they headed off to explore the city.


	5. Chapter 5:Getting Acclimated

**Chapter 5: Getting Acclimated**

As they left the room Lorne pulled out the scone he brought with him from the Mess. "Oh here. Thought you might be hungry," he handed her the dessert. "So any place in particular you'd like to start at or see, or do you just want the grand tour?"

She smiled before taking a bite of the scone. "Mmm, not bad. Uh, what do you think? I want to see anything and everything?" Her eyes widened, "This place is, unimaginable."

"Geeze, your like a kid in a candy shop, and you haven't even seen the Jumpers yet. They're no Raptor or Tomcat, but they've got their own little features that make them just as special." They came to a door, and Lorne stopped. "Ok the first stop on our tour, because I know you'll be here often enough," he smiled at her, "the Infirmary."

"Oh, ha ha, very cute. You're hilarious you know that," she said sarcastically as they entered. She looked around and noticed many Earth devices but also several Ancient ones that were being used as well. As she started to wander through she and Lorne were spotted by Dr. Beckett.

"Evening Major, and what brings you here?"

Lorne grabbed Lexa's arm and turned her around for introductions. "Dr. Carson Beckett, Captain Alexa Madison."

"Ah, our new recruit. It's lovely to meet you my dear. And such a beautiful name," Carson greeted.

Lexa blushed, she's always been a sucker for men with accents. "You can call me Alex. Its nice to meet you. Apparently Major Lorne believes I'll be in here quite often so we'll be getting to know each other well it seems," she said as she shook Carson's hand.

"Oh does he now? And why would he think that?"

Lexa started before Lorne could say anything, "Um, let's just say I'm very, energetic and active, mix that with being a blonde, doesn't always turn out so well. It was very nice meeting you."

"Aye lassie, you have a good night now," Carson waved as they left.

As they headed down the hall Lexa couldn't help but notice Lorne's expression. He seemed a little, perplexed. Before she could ask he stopped her and explained. "You told Dr. Beckett to call you Alex. Does that mean I shouldn't call you Lexa then? I mean I would totally understand."

Lexa took a deep breath. "Yeah, I did. You and Jack are the only one's who call me that now, and I'd like to keep it that way. Since my Dad called me that it means a lot to me, and I'd like to keep it to the people who mean the most to me."

They continued on but before they got to the next destination on the tour they ran into McKay who seemed a little on edge.

"Oh hi there! You must be Captain, uh…" Rodney blanked.

"Madison," she answered.

"Oh right. Dr. Rodney McKay. Hmm, your not _really_ blonde, are you?"

Lexa raised an eyebrow. "You'll have to excuse him. I think Dr. McKay and that chocolate cake were getting along a little too well at dinner," Lorne joked.

"Oh. McKay? Colonel Carter told me about you."

"Really? Colonel Carter was talking about me? Well, what did she say," Rodney beamed with anticipation.

"Well it was more of like a warning really," Lexa smirked.

"It's always great talking to you Doc, but it'll be getting dark soon, and if we don't get moving, there's something were gonna miss," Lorne explained as he ushered Lexa forward.

"Wait, is there something going on that no one told me about," McKay yelled after them.

Alexa thought about it for a minute and realized what they would miss if they didn't keep moving. "Hope you've got a good spot picked out?"

Lorne blushed ever so slightly. _Was this really such a good idea?_ "Well pretty much every spot in the city has a great view, but yes, I know that perfect spot where we can watch with no fear of interruptions." _No really, think about it…_ They continued down a long corridor that led to the west pier of the city. "Its not too much further, just up these stairs."

Lexa looked up. "Your kidding right? Better be worth it."

Lorne pushed her up the stairs. "Well the Ancients weren't your lazy type. There are a few transporters through out the city, but there are stairs galore. Personally I think that they just like making people dizzy. Besides, look at the shape you're in, what are you complaining about," Lorne gave Lexa a half smile.

They reached the top and Lorne motioned to the left. He waved his hand over a crystal and the door opened to a large balcony with a gorgeous view of the horizon. "Ah, just in time. Thought I'd make your first day memorable," Marcus said as they walked to the railing.

"It's beautiful." Lexa closed her eyes and took in the spray of the sea. "I uh," she hesitated and blushed. "You know, I haven't watched a sunset since that day we…"

"Yeah, me neither. You know, that was a great vacation. I still can't believe you actually tricked General Hammond into giving us the same week off. You know, Atlantis is kinda like the Bahamas."

"Oh yeah sure it is. But it's missing the most important thing! The beach!"

Lorne shrugged and they both new it was time for silence. The sun had reached the horizon and the sky was a wonderful shade of pinks and purples. They both leaned on the rail and took in the panorama.


	6. Chapter 6:The End Of The Tour

**Chapter 6: The End of The Tour**

After watching the sunset they began to make their way back to the city. Soon they came to the gym and found Ronan watching as Teyla kicked Colonel Sheppard's butt. They stood in the doorway for a moment and watched as well, while Teyla thwacked the Colonel until she hit him behind the knee and he fell to the ground. "Ok, so maybe I haven't been practicing as much as I said I have," he said as he climbed to his feet. "Hope you have more luck than me," he gestured to Ronan.

"We have company," the brute man said as he looked to the door.

Lorne spoke up, "Oh yeah, you've met Colonel Sheppard, so uh, Ronan, Teyla, this is Alex Madison." He introduced her remembering what she had said earlier.

She nodded to them both. "It's nice to meet you Alex. You are military are you not," Teyla inquired while Ronan just gave a shrug "Hi."

Lexa glanced down at her outfit, tight jeans and a baby tee. "Oh right, the clothes. Not on duty yet, so I figured I'd stay comfy, and yes I'm a Captain in the Air Force."

Lorne quickly interrupted, "And a good hand-to-hand combat fighter as well. Go on, show 'em what you got." He gave her a friendly push into the middle of the gym. She looked back and rolled her eyes.

"Combat fighter huh? Well we wouldn't want to bruise you on your first day here. Teyla, why don't you handle this one," Ronan stepped back with Sheppard and Lorne.

Teyla moved to put down her sticks but Alexa told her to use them, in fact Alexa went over to Colonel Sheppard and stole his set. They began to circle and stared at each other like tigers waiting to pounce. Finally Alexa made her move, and they fought confidently for a few minutes until Teyla got in a shot to her wrist. "Are you alright?" Alexa composed herself, threw her hair back, and continued on. After a few more minutes they had disarmed each other and were preparing to grapple. Teyla threw a punch which Alexa avoided by doing an aerial off to the side. When she landed she turned and kicked a roundhouse Teyla's direction. Teyla twirled and the shot missed.

Colonel Sheppard interrupted, "Ok, I'd say that's enough. Don't want anyone getting hurt, I'd say you've proven your point."

Lexa smiled, and leered in Lorne's direction, "Happy now," she said sarcastically recalling the statement he had made earlier.

Sheppard shrugged, wondering what she meant. "So what do you think of Atlantis?"

Lexa turned to face him. "Well, haven't seen too much yet, but we're only in the middle of _Major Lorne's Grand Tour of The Lost City_," she giggled. "But uh, so far, it's great, very impressive. I believe we're headed to the Jumper bay next."

Lorne poised his best Tour Guide impression, "That we are, and sadly that will be the last stop on our tour, but certainly not the least. We will then conclude our tour at dawn's light with an informative guide through Stargate Operations." They turned to leave.

Colonel Sheppard yelled after them, "Well you two have fun! But, not too much fun!" He had a funny suspicion that there was something more between them than an old friendship.

As they continued on Lexa joked about the tour guide thing. "You know, you really are a great tour guide. Maybe you should take it up as a hobby. And souvenirs, you've gotta have those. How bout a _Marcus Lorne Tour Guide Doll_?" Lorne threw her a _your nuts_ look and she laughed. "Oh, sorry, action figure. Yeah, I guess you're too robust to be a doll." They both chuckled as they entered the Jumper Bay.

The closer they got to the Jumpers the wider Lexa's eyes became. Sure she had been aboard the Daedalus, and flown an X-303, but the Jumper was Ancient technology and everything about them fascinated her. As she stepped up into the Jumper the lights came on sequentially as she walked up to the control panel. Yes, she had the ATA gene, and it was just as strong, if not stronger than Colonel Sheppard's. Lorne followed behind her and then sat shot gun and smiled. "Cool huh?" She nodded, unable to speak. "It's relaxing to fly," Lorne explained. "It uh, sorta reads your mind. It's armed with drones and it has stealth capabilities." Lexa sat in the pilot's seat and eyed all of the controls. She then closed her eyes and ran her hand along the control console a habit she picked up from her father. Growing up in the military was hard sometimes, but it also meant she grew up in the cockpit and in flight simulators, which meant she was one of the best pilots the SGC has ever seen. Lorne smiled, for he knew exactly what she was doing, he'd done it too, getting a feel for the new craft. Once your in the air, your plane becomes apart of you. You take care of it, it takes care of you. But for Lexa, it was an art.

After a long silence, she spoke. "Yep, great tour guide. This is the perfect place to end."

Lorne blushed. "It's really easy to fly, I'm sure you'll be pulling tricks with it in no time. Well, like I said, this is the end of the tour for tonight, besides its getting late, and we both have to be in Stargate Ops at 0700 tomorrow morning."

"Oh, lucky us." Lexa smirked as they exited the Jumper.

They made their way back to her room joking and laughing about old times. But Lexa kept here feelings hidden well. She was terrified of her past, and didn't know what was in store for their future. There were topics she was trying to avoid, but she didn't want to cut off the conversation completely. She was just so delighted to be friends with Marcus again that she didn't want to risk putting a strain on things again. They reached her door and both said goodnight followed by a smile. They hugged to top off the day, and Marcus took off for his own quarters. As Lexa entered the room her eyes headed straight for the package Jack had hidden in her bag. She sighed, sat down, and picked it up. _You've gotta face your past sometime, and you've been doing alright so far today. Why not go for it…_


	7. Chapter 7:The Album

**Chapter 7: The Album**

Before opening the package Lexa thought it best to read the note, even though she was almost 100 percent certain what the package contained.

_Lexa,_

_Ok, so I know I went through your things to find this, but I seriously think that it will help. I promised Alec that I'd look after you, and that's what I'm doing. It's not that far of a stretch seeing as how we've always been like family. Anyhoo, I'm guessing by now that you've figured out why I packed this for you, but just in case, let me clarify. I know I pushed you to go to Atlantis, but I believe it will help. New scenery is just what you need, a place away from all the bad memories. Not to mention I'm sure by now you've run into Major Lorne. _;-) _Ok, so the reason for the album is to keep you connected. Being in Atlantis will make it easy for you to run and hide, not deal with the past, but you have to, and I think flipping through this album a few pages at a time will help you out. And if at any time it becomes overwhelming, I'm sure Lorne will offer a shoulder to lean on. _;-) _Anyway, I'm not really good at this heart-to-heart stuff so… Oh and I tabbed the sections of the album so that you don't open it and find yourself at a spot you're not ready to see. Well uh, good luck, don't panic, face your fears, and uh, well I think you know what I'm thinking!_

_Luv Ya Kid,_

_Jack_

Lexa's eyes filled with tears as she read through the note, but as she finished a big smile spread across her face. "I knew it!" Her suspicions of why Jack wanted her here so badly had been confirmed. "But, things have changed. There's no way we can get around the Regs anymore. I mean sure, Weir's in charge, but she's fairly hard-nosed and by-the-book, or at least as by-the-book as a civilian can get. And then Colonel Chrome Dome is around whenever the Daedalus comes in. It'd be great if… But," she broke off realizing she was talking to herself. She took a deep breath and read the tabs on the album. _Family, Fishing, The Bahamas _;-)_, Camping, Parties, Civ Friends, Military, _and _College/ROTC._ "Geeze Jack. Did you put a smile next to all references to Marc?" She shook her head. _Hmm, am I really ready for this? What if… Maybe I should have Marcus here when I open it, just in case. But then… _Lexa's conscious was getting the best of her. She felt as if she was apart of a cartoon, The Devil on one shoulder, The Angel on the other. After a minute or two of contemplation she brushed them away, grabbed the album and headed out the door and down the hall.

Marcus had pointed out his room on the tour and Lexa always had a fairly good sense of direction, mix in her photographic memory, and she had a pretty good idea of where she was headed. But she had seen so much of the city in a short amount of time. She made her way through the halls at a rapid pace and then stopped at an intersection near some stairs. _Dang it… I know I'm almost there, but… Urg…_ As she stood trying to get her bearings she picked up a faint conversation coming from one of the corridors. _Sweet, he didn't make it all the way back yet._ She turned left and continued on.

Yes, poor Lorne had almost made it back to his room when he was stopped by a scientist who was investigating one of the artifacts his team had recently found off-world. The scientist was going on and on about all these technical things, but he hadn't caught a word, his mind was focused elsewhere. But not to worry, because they were soon interrupted. Lexa caught glimpse of Marcus down the hall, and could tell he so wanted out of the scientist's one-way conversation. "Uh, Major Lorne! I was wondering if we could talk?"

He turned to look at her and noticed the album in here hand that she then quickly maneuvered behind her back. "Of course. We can talk in my room, its just down there," he answered and the two began to walk away.

"Um, Major! What about the artifact," the scientist yelled after them.

"Right, great job! Just keep doing what you're doing," he answered as he hurried Lexa into his room.

"You had no idea what he was talking about, did you?"

"Not a clue. I didn't even think that artifact we found did anything, but you never know around here. So, that's what was in the package huh?" He pointed to the album.

"Uh, yeah. Jack thought it would keep me connected, help me deal? But, there's no way I can open it alone. I don't even know if I can open it at all." She sat down, feeling uneasy.

"Well, yeah, I get that." Lorne took it from her and read the tabs. "Hey, I'm photo-album worthy. Who knew? Or does 'The Bahamas' mean just pictures of the islands themselves? And what's with the smilie face?" He tried to lighten the mood.

Lexa grinned. "Honestly… Yeah, you're album worthy. And the smilie face? Hah, I don't know," she lied, knowing exactly what it meant. She sighed, cupped her hands over her face, and lied back on the bed.

Marcus came over, lied down next to her, slid his arm around her, and kissed her forehead. "Well, I'm here for whatever you need at anytime."

She turned and put her head on his chest. "I know, thanks." After a few minutes of silence Alexa realized what was happening, but still wasn't sure if it was the right thing. "So, think we should open it," she asked as she slowly sat up.

"It's up to you, but it would probably be a good idea," he answered as he pulled her back down.

She gave in and cuddled back up with him. They both held the album and opened it up to the back, to work they're way forward. The first section, was family, and Lexa knew it was going to be the hardest to look through, so she needed to work up to it. As they flipped through, memories overwhelmed her and she was glad she wasn't alone. They made they're way through the _College/ROTC_ section, and then skipped the _Military_ section, to move on to the _Civ Friends_ section. Boy was she glad they were labeled, Jack actually did something smart. After over an hour of looking at pictures and being flushed with memories they were both beginning to fall asleep.

"Hey, looks like were both in need of some sleep, so what do you say we call it a night?"

Lexa agreed, "Yeah. Thanks." They both got up, and Marcus being a gentleman walked Alexa back to her room. She opened the door and turned to say good-night, but before she could think, there it was. The kiss.


	8. Chapter 8:Passing Time

**Chapter 8:**

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

Alexa looked over at her alarm, 0530. _Eh, mine as well get up. Gotta shower, meet Marc at the Mess at 0615. It's not like I'm going to get any sleep anyway._ It's true, Alexa had gotten no sleep. All night her mind kept going over what had happened. She couldn't believe it was real. She had to keep reminding herself that it wasn't a dream. In less than a day, she had gotten what she thought was going to take months to achieve. The person she hurt had forgiven her, understood completely, and wanted exactly the same thing she did. They were back together. But how were they going to handle it? Their relationship is against regulations and her father is no longer around to help them around it. Whenever someone questioned their relationship back at the SGC he always insisted they were just friends. And of course, he being _General Madison_, no one doubted him. He knew it was against regulations, but how could he break his daughter's heart. But now?

Lexa tried to brush the thoughts out of her mind as she threw on some clothes to go for a quick run. As she jogged through the empty halls she tried to imagine what Atlantis would have been like for the Ancients. Would they have been up this early? Keeping fit, watching the sun rise? She was just trying to keep her mind away from her worries. She made her way back to her room and jumped in the shower.

As she turned off the water and reached for a towel, she heard a knock at her door. She quickly wrapped the towel around her body, grabbed her watch, and looked at the time, 0605. She peeked her head out and invited her guest in.

Marcus entered. "Hey you almost…" He took notice of her wet hair and towel. "Oh, guess not." He smiled.

"Well, give me a few minutes, you're early. Besides, weren't we supposed to meet in the Mess?" Lexa ducked back into the bathroom to get dressed.

"Well if I'm going to continue to be a great tour guide, I figured I should walk you over. So, how'd you sleep?"

Lexa laughed. "Oh, is that what I was supposed to be doing?" She put on her uniform, minus the jacket that was out sitting on her bed, and looked in the mirror. "My mind was otherwise occupied." She grabbed the hair dryer and quickly straight-dried her hair.

As she walked out of the bathroom Marcus looker her over. "Hmm, not bad. Like the shirt. How'd you manage that?"

Lexa was wearing a tight black tank top that bared about 3 inches of her firm abs. "Part of my deal with Jack. Oh the things I can get away with!" She grabbed her jacket and threw it on.

"Oh really?" Marcus smiled and lifted an eye brow.

Lexa titled her head. "That? No. Wasn't part of the deal. Now had I known getting back together would have been this simple, then yeah, I would have asked. But I doubt if it would have gone through. Ok, me ready. Take me away oh great tour guide." They linked elbows and headed for the Mess.

Being so early the Mess was fairly empty, so they grabbed some waffles and cereal and headed for the far table away from everyone else. As they ate they discussed the technicalities of their relationship. How to avoid suspicion, how to act in the public eye. Basically, how not to get noticed for having a relationship against regulations, and not get reprimanded. Though it wasn't Lorne's style, he was determined to attain the plans he thought were lost when Alexa left. As they continued talking one image kept flashing in his mind; a small black velveteen box. They finished their breakfast and left for Stargate Ops.

"Ah, Good morning Captain, Major. Right on time," Dr. Weir greeted them as they walked into her office. "So I heard Major Lorne here has given you the grand tour?"

"Yes, he has kindly given up his time and shown me around. Atlantis is very impressive, but I also can't wait to get off-world. So what fun things do I get to do today?"

"Well, I'm not sure how fun the first part of your day will be. I'd like for you to observe the procedures here in Stargate Operations for the morning. We have a recon team off-world that is scheduled to return in about 2 hours. Until then Dr. Zelenka will be showing you around. Familiarizing you with the ancient technology. Ah, here he is now." A short scientist in glasses entered the office as Dr. Weir performed the introductions. "Dr. Zelenka, Captain Madison." They both smiled and nodded to each other. "As for going off-world, you might just get your wish," Weir continued as she turned to Lorne. "Major, I'd like for to have your team on stand-by. If the recon team is to come back with anything interesting, I'd like for you to be ready to leave."

"Yes Ma'am," Lorne replied. Weir sat down at her desk as the three of them left.

"So, guess I'll see you later for our mission," Lexa beamed.

Lorne smiled. "Possible mission. And yeah, I'll see you later. Have fun."

As Lexa turned around Dr. Zelenka jumped right in at super-speed with the first piece of Ancient tech. "Obviously this equipment here is the DHD. Now we're in a different galaxy so the constellations are different, which you've undoubtedly noticed. This touch-pad here operates the shield, which is equivalent to the Iris on the Earth gate." These super-speedy, obvious explanations continued from one piece of technology to the other. Alexa tried to stay focused, the Ancients fascinated her, but after awhile she could no longer process the Czech's gibberish. She kept glancing at her watch wondering when the recon team would return, and hopefully with good news. Sure she was captivated by Atlantis, but she'd be living there now, so there was plenty of time to explore. Now that she was settled in she couldn't wait to get off-world, explore a new galaxy, battle a new enemy.

As she stood there acting like she was listening to Zelenka, her eyes rummaged around the room trying to find something to keep her entertained, which she found in Major Lorne as he walked into the room. As she watched from above, Colonel Sheppard had gone over to him and started talking. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but between the smirks on both of their faces, it was fairly apparent, to her at least, what they were discussing.

"So, come to check up on our new recruit," Sheppard said as he caught Lorne before he got to the stairs that led up to the control room.

Lorne rolled his eyes and turned around to face the Colonel. "Actually, there's a recon team do back soon and Dr. Weir wants my team to check things out if they find anything interesting."

"Ah yes, the team that's not due back for another 15 minutes, and I know you two are…" Sheppard hesitated for a moment and smirked, "_friends._ Hence my question."

Lorne smirked back, coming up with a logical excuse to avoid the real reason. "Ok, you caught me. But I wasn't so much as coming to check up on her, than I was to rescue her from Zelenka's techno babble. I mean, two hours listening to him go on about Ancient tech, though not as bad as having to listen to McKay, but still, it's enough to drive anyone nuts."

Sheppard continued to grin from ear to ear. "Uh huh. Rescue her. What, you trying out for the whole 'knight in shining armor' gig or somethin'?"

"Yeah, that's it sir. Though I don't know how well it will work seeing as how I left my horse back on Earth." They were interrupted by the locking of chevrons from an off-world activation. "Ah, looks like they're early." And with that the two of them headed up the illuminated staircase as Dr. Weir exited her office.

The tech at one of the control panels indicated that they had received an IDC and Dr. Weir ordered the shield lowered as she looked to Captain Madison. _Guess she's testing what I've learned today. Right._ "Oh don't worry, I got this one," Lexa said cockily as she hit the touch pad. The shield lowered and a few moments later the recon team came through, the gate shut down, and they all headed to the conference room.

Before Dr. Weir could even ask the scientist on the team spoke up excitedly. "It's unbelievable! It's huge! No where near the size of Atlantis, but still, huge!"

"Well that's fascinating," Dr. Weir broke in. "But it would help if we knew what you were talking about?"

The scientist continued. "An ancient laboratory! Underground! Who knows what we can find and learn!"

The team leader finally spoke up. "We didn't catch it in our initial scan of the planet. Ancient shielding probably kept it off our sensors. But as we were exploring we found a small structure that we initially thought was a temple of some sort. Well, turns out that it housed a set of Transporter Rings, and we got sent to this laboratory. It's definitely worth exploring, but it is huge. We were transported into a large central room that had corridors leading off in 5 directions."

"Well, Major, Colonel, looks like you'll be heading up this mission together. I'd like you to have your teams ready to leave in 10 minutes. Oh and Major, I'd like for Zelenka to go along as well, in place of Dr. Langly." And with that Weir dismissed the brief meeting. The two teams suited up and were soon off through the gate.


	9. Chapter 9:The Lab

**Chapter 9:The Lab**

The gate kawooshed on P7X-419 and with in moments Colonel Sheppard and Major Lorne's teams were on the planet. As they exited the wormhole they cautiously looked around, but all that was to be seen were trees.

Lt. Wallace, the fourth member of Lorne's team spoke up, "Looks peaceful enough."

"That usually means its not," the Colonel muttered. "Alright everyone keep their eyes peeled. As far as the recon team could tell this planet is uninhabited, but you never know." Sheppard remembered their trip to M5S-224 and their assumption about the "fog". And with that the teams headed South-South-West to find the Rings. It was about a 3 mile trek according to the recon team, and the scenery was beautiful, but they had to find someway to keeps themselves entertained. After about the first mile McKay, Zelenka, and Sheppard started an arousing game of "Prime, Not Prime" and to Lexa's surprise Colonel Sheppard had only missed one number. _Hmm, must be a closet math genius. The whole cocky attitude must be a cover up._ Teyla and Ronan were obviously seeing who could stay quiet the longest. There hadn't been a peep out of either of them since the numbers game started. Lorne and Lexa were having a private chat until they noticed how bored Wallace seemed, so the three of them started a game of "World's Worst." They tried to keep their laughter to a minimum, but when Lexa asked Lorne "World's worst person to be paired with on a mission," and he pointed to McKay, the three could not contain their laughter. Of course this interrupted the game of numbers the others were having because they just had to know what was so funny, but the three of them insisted it was nothing. Soon, thereafter, the laughter ceased for they had reached the temple-like complex that housed the Rings. It wasn't a very large building, just big enough to hold the Transporter Rings and probably a few guards. Colonel Sheppard's team, Zelenka, and Wallace all stepped into the rings, while Lorne and Lexa stood back and watched with a smile on their faces.

Lexa giggled, "You don't know how to work them do you?" She received a blank stare from those in the Rings. She turned to Lorne, "Would you like to do the honors, or shall I?"

"Why don't you, Miss know-it-all," Lorne flashed his adorable smile while Lexa stuck out her tongue. She operated the controls and the two of them joined the others in the circle. The Rings flew up around them and within seconds they were transported into a large circular room. The room had a few consoles and view screens, but for its size, was mostly empty. Once the group started wandering around, lights and consoles started coming on everywhere. The four corridors that lead off of the main room were positioned to the compass, and as Lexa neared one, its lights came on sequentially down the long, almost endless hallway. She froze, for she sensed that there was something to be found down the passage.

As Lexa stared down the west wing Colonel Sheppard was giving orders. "Well, there are four wings, so split up into teams of two." He noticed Lexa's attention was on the hall and not him. "Um, Captain, you with us here?"

Lexa shook her head to get herself out of the trance. "Oh, sorry sir. Yeah, um, Major Lorne and I can take this hall." She quickly paired herself with Marcus after hearing about his wonderful rompt through the woods with McKay.

Colonel Sheppard's eye's widened, "Okay then. That's fine. Um, Ronan if you'd go with Wallace to the South, Teyla and Rodney, you can take the East, and Zelenka and I will take the north. Radio if you find anything intriguing."

They all went off in there different directions. As they headed down the passageway, Lorne called Lexa on her odd behavior. "So, what was that? I mean, it's just a hall."

"I don't know. I just felt like there was something down here I have to find. Its weird I know, but I just have this gut feeling that there's something powerful down here," she broke off as they reached a door. They looked to the side for a crystal control panel, but there was nothing, there was no obvious way to open the door.

"Ok, so exactly how do we open it?" Lorne looked around the door again making sure they didn't miss anything.

"Well…" Lexa tilted her head, shrugged, and smiled.

Lorne looked up at the ceiling. "Oh no. Here we go."

Lexa's smile turned to a friendly glare. "Oh shut up." She paused. "Open sesame." Nothing happened. "Eh, it was worth a shot."

"Yeah, a shot in the dark. So now what?"

Lexa bit her lip and started to think. She took a step forward to examine the door more closely. A faint blue light appeared where a door knob would be located. She reached her hand out and touched it, it became brighter and the door slid open. "Uh, that's what." The two of them readied their weapons and stepped into the small lab. As they entered everything in the room lit up. There was a round pedestal in the center of the lab with an urn located on top of it. A beam of blue light came down from the ceiling and encompassed the pedestal which then allowed for Alexa to view the Ancient writing etched on the urn. "Trespasser" she read aloud.

"Huh," Lorne questioned.

"That's what it says on the urn. Trespasser. That's it. I have no clue what its supposed to mean."

"Well we should probably get Zelenka and McKay down here to go through the database, and see if they can't get any insight on what it's supposed to mean." Lorne activated his radio. "Colonel, its Lorne. We found a small lab in the west wing that has an urn in it that says 'Trespasser'. I think we should get Zelenka and McKay down here to take a look at it."

"Copy that Major, we're on our way," Colonel Sheppard radioed back.

While Lorne was contacting Colonel Sheppard, Lexa decided to get a closer look. She stepped up on to the platform that held the pedestal and was bathed in blue light. Lorne turned and noticed her. "What the hell are you doing?"

"You know me, just getting a better look," Lexa replied.

"Yeah well not to sound all parental but, you look with your eyes, not your hands princess."

"Oh come on. It's an urn, what could possibly happen?" Lexa lifted the lid. "See." She took a peak inside. "Empty. Figures." She turned to Lorne who had walked over and stood next to the pedestal, "No harm, no foul." And with that she fainted into his arms.


	10. Chapter 10:Apprehension

**Chapter 10:**

"Lexa?" Marcus touched her face gently trying to wake up her up, but she was out cold. He tenderly lied her down on the floor, then took off his jacket and tucked it under her head. He knelt down next to her and activated his radio. "Um, Colonel Sheppard, you might want to hurry, we have a slight situation down here."

Sheppard and the others paces quickened as the Colonel radioed back. "We're just passing through the main room now. What happened?"

"Lexa collapsed," Lorne hesitated realizing the name he called her by. "Er, Madison, she opened the urn, but there wasn't anything in it, and nothing happened. Then she just passed out."

Sheppard stopped and turned to Lt. Wallace. "Take Ronan and head back to the Gate. Radio Atlantis and tell Beckett that Madison is out cold, and he needs to get a team out here ASAP." Wallace and Ronan activated the Rings while the rest of the team headed down the west wing. "Alright Major, I sent Wallace and Ronan to go get Beckett. Where are you?"

"About a quarter mile out, on the left side." Lorne glanced over to the door. "The door's open. You should see blue light." He tried to conceal it but there was obvious concern in his voice.

Teyla looked down the long passageway. "There I see it, just up ahead."

Sheppard activated his radio. "Alright Major, we got ya. Be there in a jiff, Sheppard out."

Lorne continued trying to revive Lexa, but there was no waking her. In a few moments the rest of the team had made there way to the small lab. As they walked in McKay and Zelenka headed straight to the database, while Teyla and Sheppard went over to Lorne and asked what happened. He didn't know what to say, there was really no apparent explanation for it. "I don't know sir. She was up on the platform and just fell unconscious. I've tried to wake her up, but she won't come to."

"Well relax Major, Beckett's coming to check her out and I'm sure McKay and Zelenka will find something in the database to explain it." Colonel Sheppard tried to ease the Major's obvious concern for Alexa.

After trying to read through some of the database Zelenka spoke up, "That might be easier said than done." The others looked to the scientists apprehensively.

McKay interrupted, "The database is in some sort of code. I'm fairly certain it's all in Ancient, but it's going to take a while to decipher. I'm guessing they didn't want anyone to know what they were working on."

Zelenka cut him off, "Probably the reason 'Trespasser' was the only thing written on the urn. It was intended to be cryptic."

"Yes, yes. Unfortunately the point is, what happened to Madison may not have been an accident. It's probably an Ancient booby-trap, to prevent anyone from finding out what they were doing." McKay jumped back in.

Lorne looked down at Alexa, this all felt so familiar. Once again she was right there, he could touch her, but there wasn't a thing he could do to help. "So, you're saying what ever happened… It's reversible?"

"Well probably," McKay answered. "I won't really know for sure until I decipher the text." He glanced at Zelenka who was rolling his eyes. He corrected himself, "Until _we_ decipher the text."

"It's also possible that the effects are only temporary. That they last just long enough for you to be moved somewhere else and forget what you were doing," Zelenka tried to ease Lorne's concern for the young Captain.

Forty-five minutes had gone by with fairly little conversation, except for your typical squabble between McKay and Zelenka. Sheppard had found a chair to plop himself in and stay out of they way, while Teyla took a seat on the floor next to Lorne to tend after Alexa who's temperature was rising by the minute. Sweat began to bead down her face so Lorne took off her vest and jacket, about a minute later she began to tremble. "This isn't good, we gotta get her outta here. Where the hell is Beckett?" Lorne was losing his composure, he couldn't lose her again, he wouldn't.

Teyla put a hand on his shoulder. "Major," she said calmly, "I'm sure Dr. Beckett is moving as quickly as possible. But I believe you are correct, we should move her from this room, even perhaps out of the facility all together." Colonel Sheppard walked over from his seat and gave Teyla a puzzled look. "Dr. Zelenka said it could possibly be temporary. That if you are moved somewhere else, that you'd wake up. I believe it is worth a try," she explained as Alexa stopped trembling. Lorne nodded his head in agreement.

"Couldn't hurt. Alright Major, you and Teyla take her up to the surface, I'll stay here with McKay and Zelenka," Colonel Sheppard approved the action.

Lorne picked Alexa up, one arm under her knees, the other behind her back, her head on his shoulder and headed down the hall to the Rings. Teyla picked up his jacket and Alexa's things and tailed after him. As they approached the main room Teyla inquired about Lorne's actions. "Major, perhaps it is not my place, but you seem more troubled about Alexa's condition than the others. Are you alright?"

Lorne sighed. He wasn't sure what to say. "I'm just worried that's all. It'd be nice if we at least knew what was going on." Teyla didn't say a word, but with her expression Lorne figured she knew she was only getting half of the truth. He knew whatever he told her would be in confidence so he continued as he activated the Rings, "I love her."

Now on the surface in the temple, Teyla was confused, "But I thought you had rules against that?"

They began to walk out of the temple as Lorne replied, "Yeah, we do. It could get us both court-martialed, which is why no one can know."

Teyla nodded, "I understand, you have my word."

They continued on to get a little further away from the temple and finally ran into a much needed Dr. Beckett and his team being led by Ronan and Wallace. "Aye Major, how's our young Captain?" Lorne shook his head. "Here, lie her on the backboard, let met take a look at her."

Lorne softly put her down on the ground and filled Carson in. "Her temperature is rising and she was trembling about ten minutes ago. McKay and Zelenka haven't been able to come up with anything yet, the database is in code."

Beckett quickly examined Alexa. "No obvious signs of trauma, she is running a fever. Alright let's get her back to Atlantis." Lorne grabbed one side of the backboard while Ronan grabbed the other. Beckett sent his team with Wallace to temple to analyze the lab, while Teyla headed back to Atlantis with the others. "How exactly did this happen, Major," Beckett asked as they started their three mile trek back to the Gate.

Lorne was reluctant to answer, "I don't know, she just collapsed."

The walk back to the Gate took about 40 minutes. A little longer than Lorne had hoped, but anytime Alexa convulsed they stopped for Beckett to look her over. As they dialed Atlantis Carson informed them that he had a team standing by in the Control Room to rush her to the Infirmary. After they stepped through the Gate, Lorne and Ronan put her up on the awaiting gurney and the med team wheeled her away. Lorne was about to follow but was stopped by Dr. Weir. "What happened?"

"We don't know Ma'am," Lorne's answer came out slightly hostile.

"Major, are you alright," Weir questioned.

"We're all just worried for Alexa's well being Dr. Weir," Teyla jumped in now knowing Lorne's feelings for the young woman.

"Yes, that's understandable, but I am going to need an update on what exactly is going on. Why don't we discuss this in the conference room," Weir turned and headed up the staircase followed by Teyla and Ronan. Lorne hesitated, staring off in the direction Beckett had taken Lexa. All he wanted was to be with her, make sure she was all right. But he had duties to perform, and those came first. He turned and noticed the others were halfway up the stairs, he followed.


	11. Chapter 11:Crossed Psyche

**Chapter 11:Crossed Psyche**

There wasn't much to report on so the debriefing with Weir didn't last very long. But for Lorne who was occupied with his worries about Lexa, it felt like eternity. As soon as the meeting was dismissed he bolted down to the infirmary. As he walked in he saw Lexa lying peacefully in bed and went over to her. Carson spotted him as he neared her bed and went over to talk to him. "Major."

Lorne looked up. "Hey Doc, how's she doing?"

"Well she's stable. The tremors have stopped and her fever is slowly coming down, but it's still up to 109°. But I'm confident that once her fever subsides, she'll be waking up and she'll be just fine."

Beckett's news gave Lorne some relief. "Thanks Doc, that's good news. Um, you mind if I stay for awhile."

"No not at all Major. Actually I have a few tests to run so having an extra pair of eyes to watch over our lovely Captain here would be a great help. Make yourself comfortable, I need to get back to this." Beckett smiled and walked back to the other side of the room.

Lorne watched him walk away and then looked down at Alexa. He reached down and brushed her long bangs off to the side. "I'm so sorry baby. I wish there was something I could do. This isn't what you needed your first day back on the job." He bent down and kissed her forehead and then looked around for a chair to sit in. He grabbed one that was nearby, sat down, put his feet up, and didn't take an eye off of her for the next few hours. He started to doze off but was stirred by a hand on his shoulder, it was Teyla.

"Have you been down here this whole time?" she received a sigh and a nod from Lorne in compliance. She smiled, "I had a feeling. Here, it is not much, but you need something," she handed him an apple. He thankfully accepted it and took a bite. "Has her conditioned improved any," Teyla asked as Lorne finished off the apple.

"Her temperature is almost back to normal, so she should be waking up soon. I hope." He went over to the waste basket, tossed the apple core in, and turned back to Teyla. "Thanks for that, I guess I didn't realize how hungry I was."

"If you would like to go and get something to eat, I would gladly stay and watch over Alexa until you returned," Teyla offered.

"Thanks Teyla, but…" he looked over at his helpless sweetheart, "I need to be here, for when she wakes up." He walked over to her bed and took her hand and to his surprise she returned the grasp. With his free hand he caressed her face, "Lexa?" She turned her head toward him and slowly opened her eyes. He whispered to her softly, "Hey, how are you feeling?" She didn't answer, she just warily looked about the room. "You want me to get Beckett," Lorne guessed from her puzzled expression.

"Doctor? Beckett?" Lexa questioned. She seemed a bit out of it. Teyla raised an eyebrow perplexed. Lexa spoke slowly and quietly, "Um, no. I'm alright. Just a bit of a headache that's all." She looked over at Marcus and saw the worry in his eyes. "I'm fine, really," she reassured him.

He ran his fingers down the side of her face, but pulled away when he noticed Beckett had entered the room. "Hey Doc, she's awake!" He had promised to notify Beckett the moment she woke up.

Beckett strolled over. "Ah, is she now. How are you feeling my dear? You had us rather worried."

Again Alexa did not speak, she just looked at him. A silence fell throughout the room, then she shook her head and answered. "I'm sorry, it's just that I don't remember much about what happened. I do however feel fine, except for a slight headache, which I'm sure I can take care of."

"Well, I a_m_ a doctor, I can give you something for it," Beckett insisted gleefully.

"No really, that's quite alright. It's really not that bad." She persisted. Unbeknownst to those around her, they were not talking to Alexa, but to Edana, the apparition that was trapped in the urn. The headache she was referring to wasn't a headache at all, it was Alexa's consciousness trying to fight to the surface. While Alexa was unconscious, the tremors that her body went through were due to the two of them inside her mind battling for control. "So, do I get a clean bill of health?"

Beckett smiled, "Not just yet. I have a few tests that are in the midst of processing, and I have just received word from Elizabeth that the team off-world has returned. Once I get my test results, and Rodney fills me in on what he's found, we'll see about letting you leave. Now, let me get you something for that headache," he turned and walked off.

Edana sighed and leaned her head hard back into the pillow, just then there was a city-wide announcement. "Teyla and Major Lorne you're needed in the conference room ASAP." Lorne frowned as he activated his headset, "It's Lorne, we're on our way." He didn't want to leave, but he knew he had to. He bent down and kissed Alexa, or Edana as it were. She was surprised by the kiss, after all she had been trapped in an urn for 10,000 years, but she tried not to let it show. "I'll be back when we're done. Promise," he said as he and Teyla walked out of the Infirmary.

Edana licked her lips and then rubbed them together. "Hmm, I could get used to this. Looks like I jumped into the right body," she made herself comfortable in the bed.

Alexa's voice echoed in her head, "Yeah well don't get too comfy, I'll be evicting you soon enough!"

Edana continued the conversation in her head. "I highly doubt that. So, that's the boyfriend huh? Gotta admit, you've got good taste."

Alexa didn't even want to admit what could happen. "If you so much as even think about…"

"Oh would you pipe down. You should be lucky you're not already gone. Once my full strength returns and I have absorbed all that wonderful knowledge about your life, you, go bye-bye. Should only take a few days, so enjoy it while it lasts!" Edana intended on staying.

Alexa was up for a fight. "A few days! Hah! It won't take that long for Marc to realize I'm not me. Then you'll have problems! And I'm sure McKay and Zelenka are cracking the database code right now! Why don't _you_ enjoy it while it lasts, because I intend on vanquishing your sorry ass!"

Edana laughed, "And just how do you intend on doing that, oh little voice in my head?"

"Well, I'm still working on that," Alexa was stuck. "But you can bet, when I find a way, there's going to be one hell of a smack down!"

The conversation in her head came to an abrupt stop when Dr. Beckett came over with some Aspirin. "Here, this should do the trick. Now, I have to head up to the conference room for the debriefing, but there are others around here somewhere should you need anything."

Edana smiled and took the Aspirin as Beckett exited the room. "There, maybe that will shut you up," she said to Alexa in her head.

"Don't bet on it!"


	12. Chapter 12:Debriefing

**Chapter 12:Debriefing**

Lorne and Teyla entered the conference room and took a seat at the crowded table. Weir spoke up, "Ah, now we just need Carson and we can get started." Beckett entered. "Speak of the devil. Alright, first things first. Carson, how's Captain Madison doing?"

"Well she's awake and quite well, as I predicted, but I am still running a few tests just to be sure. Unless Rodney has come across anything to the contrary, I don't see why she can't leave the Infirmary today, but she will need a few days of R&R," Beckett updated the group on Alexa's condition.

"Well that's good news. So Rodney? What have you got for us," Weir turned her attention to the obviously agitated scientist.

"A load of gibberish. We haven't even come close to cracking the code," McKay answered spitefully.

"What are you talking about?" Sheppard interrupted, "You thought you had it there for a minute."

"Well if _From Inside It Exacts Revenge_ means something to you, then, please…" McKay was nearing the end of his fuse.

"I'm just saying, it doesn't make sense now, but if you de-code the rest the same way, maybe it will eventually mean something," Sheppard calmly explained.

"Wait. Where did you find this," Lorne wondered.

Zelenka began to answer, "At the beginning of the database. I believe it to be something of a title to the experiments they were performing."

McKay cut him off, "And what kind of experiment would you title _From Inside It Exacts Revenge_? You obviously translated it wrong!"

"I translated it wrong?" Zelenka answered.

"Gentlemen!" Weir stopped the squabble before it could escalate any further. "Well it seems to me that you should atleast try and decipher the text this way. If it continues to not make sense, then obviously we'll try something else." She received a frustrated stare from McKay to which she gave him a stern look back. "Sometimes you tend to over analyze things, and brush them off to the side. We can't take that chance here."

Lorne remained calm, now eased knowing that Alexa was alright. "I believe Dr. Weir's right. If you were able to translate something, even though to us it makes no sense, it bares further scrutiny."

Weir nodded. "Alright, well that's settled. Did you find anything else?"

"You mean in that particular lab, or in the whole complex," Colonel Sheppard was being cheeky. Weir tilted her head and raised an eyebrow. "Well I was just trying to clarify." He continued on explaining that they couldn't get into any other room and that it was like every other Ancient place they've happened upon. There was a lot there, but it would take time to process and fully understand.

After about half an hour the meeting was dismissed and Beckett and Lorne returned to the Infirmary. As they entered one of Beckett's assistants informed them that the tests came back negative, but there was something on the cat-scan that they need to see.

"So Doc, you wanna explain what I'm looking at here," Lorne pointed out his lack of medical knowledge.

"Well, it resembles General O'Neill's scans from when he had the Ancient knowledge in his brain, but its more isolated than that. Just this one area is disrupted, as if there seems to be a lot of information being stored there," Beckett tried to simplify things.

"And that means?"

"Right now, I don't know. She seems fine. We'll have to wait and see." Beckett paused. "Now I've been informed that the two of you are good friends, so if I release her, I'd expect you to keep a close eye on her, and report any odd behavior back to me."

"Sure thing Doc. So that means she can go?" Beckett nodded. Lorne replied with a smile. "Alright I'll give her the good news and take her to her room." He turned and went over to Alexa.

"So what's the verdict," Edana asked as he approached.

"You're outta here, with a few days of R&R, all for fainting. Got to admit, you're good. One day on the job, and you're already getting days off," he said sarcastically.

"Really?" Edana tried playing coy.

"Yeah. I've even got orders to escort you to your room and to keep and eye on you." He flashed his adorable smile as Edana climbed out of bed.

When they entered her room Edana ran over to the dresser and pulled out a pair of jeans and a halter top. She went into the bathroom to change out of the scrubs supplied by the Infirmary. After changing she glanced in the mirror to check out her new body, but instead of her reflection, she came face to face with Alexa's glowing aura. "You keep your paws off of him," Alexa spoke.

Edana looked her in the eye, "And why should I, that's not what you've been planning. I'm just speeding things up a bit." She winked at Alexa and walked out of the bathroom, and over to Marcus. She looked at him distressed, "What happened?"

Lorne hugged her tightly and whispered in her ear, "I wish I knew." He loosened his embrace and stepped back to look at her, "I'm just glad you're alright."

Edana knew he was vulnerable and decided to take control of the situation, so she pulled him into a luscious kiss. She slid her hands up his chest to around his neck, while his moved around her waist and then up her back. They both knew where things were headed, but Marcus realized the day had been stressful, and neither one of them was thinking very clearly, so he pulled back gently. "Lexa, you know we can't," he said softly.

Edana looked at the floor and rubbed her lips together. She looked up at him and sighed, "Yeah, I know. I…" He put his finger to her lips, kissed her forehead, and hugged her. Edana rolled her eyes and looked over his shoulder into the mirror on the wall to see a glowing Alexa sticking out her tongue.


	13. Chapter 13:Slip Ups

**Chapter 13: Slip Ups**

Before Alexa could speak, Edana broke their embrace so she could no longer reflect in the mirror. "You okay," Marcus asked, startled.

"Yeah, um," she quickly thought up a lie, "just thought, you'd like to go get something to eat."

Marcus smiled. "You read my mind. I didn't wanna say anything…"

"Hey, I know you've been down in the Infirmary with me all day, so… Besides, I could go for some fruit myself." Marcus raised an eyebrow at her reply. "What?"

He dropped his questionable expression. "Oh nothing. Its just, you, in the mood for fruit. Its just weird, I've never seen you anywhere near the stuff. But if that's what you want. Lets go." He put his arm around her shoulders as they left the room.

At the Mess Lorne filled up his plate with a wide variety of foods while Edana picked through the fruits and veggies. She didn't recognize any of them so she tried to pull the information out of Alexa, but due to the aspirin Beckett had given her, she couldn't. She was starved and beginning to get frustrated, which in a moment, Lorne noticed. "Oh right, you've never seen the Athosian fruits. Um, here, try these." He picked up a few things that resembled a grapefruit, a peach, and some grapes and put them on her plate. "I love 'em."

Edana smiled back, trying to respond as Alexa would, but without access to her mind, she was on her own. "Thanks. But honestly, I'm going to need a lot more than that." Lorne sighed and grabbed her a few more things.

As they walked over to a table to sit down Marcus responded, "Well, its nice to see you finally have an appetite. You used to barely eat anything." Edana froze for a moment, realizing that she shouldn't have said anything, but then again, Lorne went with it, so it was all good.

A few minutes later they were joined by Colonel Sheppard, who, after some time of playing the concerned CO, finally got to the point. "So, Major, Beckett's told me that he's putting you in charge of keeping an eye on Madison here, bet the two of you just love that." He received a wide-eye stare from the two of them and continued. "Well, we all know how I feel about Rules and Regs, so you won't hear anything out of me, but I don't want to catch you making-out in the back of one of the Jumpers." They all smiled and had a good laugh.

"Is that an order sir," Lorne asked with a chuckle.

"Is what an order Major," Caldwell asked as he walked up to the table.

"Oh nothing sir. Colonel Sheppard was just making sure that I'm going to keep a good eye on Madison. We don't need anything else happening to her," Lorne quickly shot off a cover up.

Caldwell gave them all a stern look. "No we wouldn't want that now would we." He looked to Edana, "It's good to see you up, how are you feeling?"

Edana hesitated for a moment, not knowing who the man was and unable to access Alexa's memories, but she had paid attention to Lorne's response and decided to follow his lead. "I'm feeling great, sir. I don't know why everyone is so concerned?"

"Well, you may feel fine, but be sure to follow Beckett's orders. I just came from talking with him and he still has some concerns, which I'm sure will fade once McKay deciphers the database," Caldwell stated. As he finished his sentence they were interrupted by the bickering of McKay and Zelenka who had just grabbed some food themselves. "I take it things aren't going to well?"

"Really? What was your first clue," McKay spat back, taking a seat.

Realizing Rodney wasn't going to elaborate Zelenka continued for him. "Well we've got some of it translated, but it still doesn't make much sense."

Edana broke in before he could say more, "I could help. That is, if you want me to?" Help wasn't exactly what she wanted to do. She knew if they figured out what was in the database that they'd try to find a way to get rid of her, perhaps even kill her, so she figured she'd try and lead them in the wrong direction.

"Oh, just what I need, more help," McKay mumbled to himself.

"Alright McKay, play nice," Sheppard chimed in.

"Oh, and I love you too McKay… I'm just saying, if you need a fresh set of eyes, let me know," Edana insisted.

"Well, looks like we're all done here, what do you say we get going," Lorne said as he pulled Edana to her feet. They said good-bye, dumped their trays, and exited the Mess. "So you enjoyed the fruit?"

"Yes, it was delicious. The Athosians are quite the farmers." As Edana spoke she began to get dizzy, so she stopped and clung to the corner of the wall for a moment. "Knock it off," she yelled at Alexa in her head.

Alexa shouted back. "Make me! Looks like the drugs Beckett gave you are wearing off!"

A worried Lorne put his arm around her. "You all right? Maybe we should go see Beckett."

"No, no, I'm fine, just a little dizzy. It will pass." She let go of the wall to stand but didn't have any balance so she tumbled to the side.

"Whoa," Lorne caught her. "Okay, we're going down to Beckett." He activated his headset, "Hey Doc, its Lorne. Alexa's dizzy and nearly fell over so I'm bringing her down to you."

Edana spoke to Alexa, "Great, now look what you've done."

"Yep, that was my plan. With that tip from Caldwell that Beckett's still concerned, I figure he's gotta know something, and he'll tell Marc. And with Marc all worried I knew something as simple as a dizzy spell would get him to make you go to the Infirmary," Alexa answered.

Beckett radioed back, "Yes, yes, bring her down and I'll have another look at her."

"No way," Edana shouted, though she meant to say it to Alexa in her head.

"Um, yes way," Lorne said as he head her down the hall. "Just to be safe. I don't want anything else happening to you."

Edana sighed and reluctantly went along. She wanted to concentrate on absorbing Alexa's memories and getting rid of her, but she couldn't do that with Beckett examining her or all these people around. She needed to sit someplace quiet, alone, but that wasn't happening any time soon, which means Alexa had more time to figure out how to get the others to realize what has happened. She needed to find someway to tell Lorne, and then he could convince the others, but how. A mirror? Edana could talk to her in a mirror as if she was another person. Maybe she could talk to Marcus this way. No, Edana will never let it happen, she'll stay away from mirrors.


	14. Chapter 14:A Troubled Past

**Chapter 14:A Troubled Past**

After having Lorne take Edana back to her room Carson examined the cat-scans he had just taken. It seems there is slightly more activity through out the whole brain, while the bright isolated patch that shown on the first scan was getting smaller. While he really had no idea what exactly was going on, he had a feeling the answers lied in the encrypted database. What ever happened in that lab was bad, and Carson couldn't help but think the Ancients were trying to work out some kind of mental attack on the Wraith. This of course, to him, meant that she was probably going to degrade and end up in a coma, or worse. After reporting to Weir, Carson thought it best for Lorne and Alexa to know, so he walked himself down to her quarters. He knocked before entering, which was good because it gave Lorne a moment to pop out of the bed on which they had been cuddling. Carson explained the details to them both and took notice that Lorne seemed much more un-eased by the information than Alexa. He gave her a concerned look.

"I don't believe it," Edana spoke. "I don't think the Ancients would have gone that far. Besides, why would they leave all of that behind for the Wraith to find?"

"Well I believe that is the reason for the encryption, so even if they found it, it would be of no use," Carson theorized. "Are you alright Major?"

Lorne wiped the concern from his face, "Yeah, Doc, that's a good thought. Guess we better keep our fingers crossed that McKay and Zelenka can figure it out. Um, yeah, its getting late, I think we just all need some sleep."

"Aye," the Scotsman agreed and turned to Edana. "Especially you my dear, I want you in bed as much as possible, or at least taking it easy and relaxing until we figured this out. If this is some sort of attack on the brain there's no telling what might happen." He turned to Lorne, "And I trust you'll keep a close eye on her?" The Major nodded. "Alright, well hopefully we'll have something solid by the end of tomorrow. Good-night," and with that Carson took his leave.

"Finally," Edana sighed. "I thought he was never gonna leave. Now, where were we?" She smiled.

Lorne shook his head, "Lexa this is serious, you… You could be dieing." He sat next to her on the bed. "I just got you back. I can't lose you again." He fought back tears, and it was then that Edana realized how much he cared, and that he really loved Alexa.

She kissed him gently and then whispered, "I'm not going anywhere," as they settled back into their embrace, and soon fell asleep. The realization of how strong Lorne's feelings were caused Edana to dream about her past. Several memories of before she was an astral being flashed through her mind; many of them of her and a handsome young man, both very happy, and in love. Then they turned to the experiments. She found she had the ability to astral project and offered to be studied, in hopes they could all learn the ability, and use it to fight the Wraith. Edana used to be an Ancient. But the men in charge gave her drugs to make her astral for longer, with out her permission. Her astral self could handle it, but her body could not. Her brain and heart had shut down from lack of a conscious, and she couldn't return to it. In essence she was alive, but with out a body, her life was gone. She hated them for what they had done and turned to revenge. She possessed them to kill their consciousness and then left their bodies as they had left hers. They ruined her life, prevented her from marrying her fiancé, and with her being so powerful it turned her cold.

Alexa could see all of this since she had a residence in her brain, and felt sorry for Edana. She was young, in love, with her whole life ahead of her, and it was taken away, just like that. While Alexa did feel for her, she still wasn't going to give up on evicting Edana from her body. She wanted to live out _her_ life, with _her_ soul-mate. _Wait, that's it, the soul._ Alexa had an epiphany. _The eyes are the window to the soul. If Marc could look into my eyes filled with compassion and love, looking to see me! Then maybe it would be enough to bring me to the surface, allow me momentary control, get him a message._ Alexa had finally found it, the plan she'd been searching for. Now she just had to hope that something would happen to make Marc look at her endearingly.

After some time Lorne could no longer sleep so he took a seat on the couch and watched her toss and turn for the rest of the night. As he finally started to fall asleep at about 0800, he was startled by a knock at the door. Half asleep he walked over to see who it was, and to his surprise it was McKay.

McKay was also surprised. "Oh Major, didn't expect to find you here. Um, is Madison around?"

Lorne motioned to the bed where Edana was finally sleeping peacefully. "She's asleep. What did you need?"

"Well, um. Why are you here?" McKay asked receiving only a stare in reply. "Uh, right, well uh, Radek and I may have figured out the first entry in the database, but it's still rather screwy in context. And Madison offered her help, so I figured she could take a look at it, see if she could make anything of it. If we're right about the translation then it won't take long to divvy up a program to automatically decipher the rest." McKay was most definitely on a caffeine high.

"Yesterday you didn't want her help. What changed your mind," Lorne questioned.

"Um, yeah. Well I've talked with Beckett and he's told me what's going on with her, and it could also be the 7 cups of coffee I've had this morning," McKay answered anxiously.

"Right, well when she wakes up I'll let her know. Why don't you keep working at it in the mean time, see if you can't get anything else deciphered." Lorne ushered McKay out the door. He turned back to Edana, smiled, and then lied down next to her to try to get some sleep.


	15. Chapter 15:Exposed

**Chapter 15:Exposed**

When Edana awoke Lorne informed her of McKay's visit and she quickly got herself together and they scooted down to his lab. Lorne was quite nervous about how anxious she was, so he kept close, and kept her seated. As Edana read through the entry they had deciphered her eyes widened. They _had_ translated it correctly and it was an introduction to the experiment. Her reason for being here was to lead them astray, but her thoughts and feelings were pulling her in different directions. She wanted to live again, but then again, it was a different time, could she really be happy, especially living the life of another. She also realized that she'd be cutting Alexa's life short, she was returning to her old self. After 10,000 years in an urn, Edana's revenge had grown cold and once again she was becoming the girl who put everyone else's well being in front of her own. She was shaken out of her daze by a question from McKay, "So, what do you think?"

"Um, well, its still a bit odd. Let me take a look at the database, I want to try my own little cipher on it," Edana attempted to stall. She received an unfriendly expression from McKay. "I'm not saying you're wrong. I just think I should try it on my own, then, when I come up with the same thing, we'll know we're right." At this point she wasn't sure what she was going to do. McKay huffed and exited the lab, as Edana turned her attention to the encoded database. After McKay shuffled out, Lorne went over behind Edana and put his hands on her shoulders. She looked up at him. "What's up," she asked calmly.

He massaged her shoulders. "Just take it easy, don't put to much time into this. I'm sure McKay translated it correctly. I know you're worried and want it to be perfect, but…" He turned her chair around and bent down to look her in the eye, "if this is some kind of mental attack, you need to give your brain a rest."

As she caught the compassion in his eyes as she lost control. Her posture and voice changed to as if she was in great pain, "Marc, help." She stuttered and trembled, "I'm dieing." Alexa's control only lasted a moment, and Edana returned to normal. Lorne put his hand on her cheek and look at her concerned and confused. He shook his head as he looked at her, he didn't know what to say.

Edana spoke to Alexa, "Nice job girly, you just killed yourself. I _was_ debating leaving and letting you live, but you had to go and pull that little stunt, so forget it now. And if I stayed I was going to pretend to be you, so as not to break your sweetie's heart, but that's changing now too!" Alexa's actions cause Edana to revert back to her vengeful self.

Edana jumped up out of the chair and pushed Lorne back onto his butt as she nabbed his side arm. "What the hell," he shouted.

She aimed the sig at the Major on the floor, "FYI, Alexa _is_ dieing, and her conscious is slowly fading off into oblivion. And I'd like to take a moment and introduce myself, Edana's the name, and I'm the new owner of this body, and I plan on keeping it!"

Lorne couldn't believe what he was hearing, "And just how do you think your going to do that? There's no way I'm just going let you kill her! Besides where do you think you're going to go?"

"That's non of your business, but I do have a nice planet picked out. Oh and that kiss you gave me when I woke up was nice, it actually gave me the incentive to stick around, but after that stunt your girl just pulled, I'm just gonna go off and do my own thing. Hey, no moving" Edana waved the gun around.

Lorne quit trying to get up, "Wait, you're telling me you've been here this whole time." He paused as he thought for a moment, "You're… You were what was in the urn. You're the thing the database was referring to."

"I'm not a thing!" Edana's hand holding the gun shook as she walked closer to him. "At least I never used to be! I was a person once, one of whom you call the Ancients. They did this to me! You know what, that doesn't matter now. What matters now is that I make it to what you call the Stargate, but I know as soon as I leave you'll tell the others, so, looks like I'm going to have to shoot you. And it's not that I want to, it's that I have to. I'm actually kind of sorry about it."

Lorne stared down the barrel of the gun, and in what seemed like slow motion, he watched as her finger started to squeeze the trigger. Just before the gun shot, her arm jerked to the side and she shot the wall as she became frozen in place. "I can't hold her for long," Alexa managed to get out as she took control for a moment. Lorne jumped up but as he reached for the gun Edana came back into control. He managed to grab it just in time, but there was nothing else he could do, he couldn't possibly hit her. Edana maneuvered around him and she ran out of the lab and into the corridors of Atlantis.

Lorne kicked the chair in front of him, "Damn it!" Then he activated his head set, "It's Lorne, we've got a security breech! Madison is possessed! Pursue with stunners! I repeat, pursue with stunners!" He went over to what McKay had translated and began reading it through.

Colonel Sheppard contacted him back, "Major, you mind informing me of what the hell is going on?"

He finished scanning through the entry, and was able to connect the dots. "Turns out the urn wasn't empty sir. It was a vessel, a sort of holding cell, for an apparition who calls herself Edana. It seems she used to be an Ancient and something happened that turned her into an astral consciousness. She's been in control of Madison this whole time, and she's intent on getting to the Gate." As he explained things McKay and Zelenka, who were also was hearing this, entered the lab. "Good, you two get to work on translating the rest of this, see if you can't find a way to get that thing out of her," Lorne ordered as he made his way to the door.

"Wait," McKay shouted, "we're not even sure it's right!"

"Trust me, it's right, or she wouldn't have tried to kill me," Lorne shouted back as he left the lab. McKay and Zelenka stared at each other for a moment in shock of the answer they had just received and then turned their attention to the database. Lorne made his way down to the armory to grab a stunner, where he ran into Sheppard's team, minus McKay of course, also gearing up.

Teyla put a hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry Major, she's not getting out of the city. We'll find her."

At that moment Lorne had a realization, "You said the city, not the Gate… The Jumpers!" He grabbed a stunner and bolted out the door, tailed by the Colonel and his team.

Sheppard radioed throughout the city, "I want a Security team to the Jumper Bay ASAP! Double time, move it!"


	16. Chapter 16:The Hunt

**Chapter 16:The Hunt**

At the present time Edana had no intentions of fighting her way to Stargate Ops, she was headed out to the end of the South Pier to hide. Well not so much as to hide, but to find a nice quiet place to try and absorb more of Alexa. She couldn't get rid of her in one sitting, because it would drain her too, and she needed to get around and keep out of sight.

Lorne along with Sheppard's team made it to the Jumper Bay before the Security team. They looked around carefully making sure Edana hadn't been there, or was hiding somewhere. As they searched the Security team entered, and Sheppard gave them their orders. "Well, there's no sign that she's been here, but that doesn't mean she won't try. So keep alert and cover the entrances." The men took their posts as the others exited. "Alright, let's get up to the control room, See if we can't pick her up on the sensors."

Weir met them at the top of the staircase, "We've located her in the South Pier." She motioned to the screen, "Looks like she's sitting still. Planning her next move?"

"Doubt it. She's smart. It's gotta be something else. But what…" Lorne trailed off.

Weir activated her headset, "Rodney, we need to know what's in that database."

"I know! We're working on it, it's only been 15 minutes!" McKay was on edge as usual. "I'm scanning through it now." The group in the control room waited silently for something they could use. "Oh no," wasn't what they were hoping for.

"What is it," Weir asked calmly.

McKay continued, explaining the experiment and what had happened, including how Edana had killed the scientists. "She takes over their body and absorbs their memories and knowledge, until their conscious fades and dies."

McKay's explanation took a few minutes, and as Lorne listened he closed his eyes and thought of Lexa. Memories of their time together ran though his mind. He remembered the day they met, a beautiful young Lieutenant with a smile that immediately melted his heart. Images of their sneaky relationship at the SGC and their vacation to the Bahamas flashed before his eyes. Next he pictured just two days before, when he walked into her room and found her up on the chair. Finally, one last image of Lexa lay frozen in his mind. Not just 15 minutes ago when she was trembling and begging for help. "Lexa," he was overcome with emotion and didn't even know he had said anything until he open his eyes to puzzled stares. He bit his lip and recomposed himself, "That thing is going to kill her. That's what she's doing out there. Hiding, gaining time to kill her. McKay, does it say anything about how to get Edana out?" The puzzled looks continued. "That's what she said her name was…"

"Um, unfortunately no, but it does say how they caught it, to trap it in the urn. They made some kind of high voltage energy field and chased it into it while it was between bodies, in astral form. The zap stopped it long enough for them to scoop it up into the urn," McKay informed them.

"Well that's great, but where exactly are we going to get a high voltage energy field," Weir questioned.

After a short pause they heard the clicking of McKay snapping his fingers, he had an idea. "The stunners. It's the same concept, except they give you a low voltage shock. I could amp one up. Then if we hit Madison with that, it should knock this thing out of her."

"Wait," Lorne was hesitant about the idea. "So, you're proposing we hit Madison with a high voltage shock? Won't that kill her?"

"Um," McKay was stumped, he kind of forgot about that. "Did I mention there was a small flaw to may plan."

The whole group sighed, but then Zelenka spoke up. "Not necessarily. If she was touching something rubber, then most of the voltage would go right through her, but still knock this Edana out of her."

"Right, sounds like a plan." Sheppard eyed the group, "So, anyone know of where we could find some rubber?"

Lorne looked to his CO and Sheppard could tell he wasn't going to like what the Major had to offer. "The Jumpers, the floor is covered with a rubber mating."

"Great. This is going to be fun. Getting her into one of the Jumpers without her taking off through the Gate. We better get working on a plan." As Sheppard finished the four of them headed up to the Jumper Bay with a wish of luck from Weir. As the jogged up they worked out a plan for once she was inside the Jumper Bay, but they were still working on how to get her there as they waited for McKay to bring them the tweaked stunner.

After some deliberation, and Lorne pretty much keeping his mouth shut, he finally spoke up. "Um sir, I have a really bad idea." He continued on explaining his plan to the others.

"That's pretty risky. You sure it will work," Ronan asked.

"I'm a pretty good actor. As long as I can keep my cool, I think she'll buy it."

"Alright Major, get going," Colonel Sheppard ordered him off. Lorne removed his sidearm from its holster and handed it to Sheppard, then he grabbed a Life Signs Detector from one of the Jumpers and left towards the South wing. "Wow, he's got it bad, though I can't blame him." Sheppard turned to the opening door, "Ah Rodney, nice of you to join us." He took the stunner from McKay.

Lorne quickly made his way out to the South Pier. As he drew closer to Edana he walked slowly and quieted his breathing to be sure to come upon her in surprise, and that he did. He glanced at her from around the corner, and he could tell she was in a sort of meditation. He walked over to where she was sitting on the floor and coughed. A few seconds later her eye lids flew open and she raised the palm of her hand toward him. There was a bright flash of pale blue light and Lorne went flying across the hall into the wall, her powers were returning. Edana jumped to her feet, and prepared to run, but stopped when the Major moaned out a proposal. "Wait, I've come to make a deal with you." She turned around and gave him the _I'm listening_ stare. "You want to leave. Fine, I'll fly you out of her myself, to wherever you want to go, just let me talk to Lexa. Let me say good-bye."

"And why would you do that," Edana asked in a deep tone as she suspected foul play.

"Because she's only been back in my life for two days, and for one of them it was you. I can brush it off, I've lost her before, but this time I want to at least get a good-bye. And I understand why you're doing this. Seems like you had a pretty good life before the experiment, Lexa's life is pretty messed up, seems only fitting that if one of you lives that it's you. So, what do you say, deal?" Lorne stood up and reached out his hand. Edana contemplated proposition. She knew he loved her, how could he just let her go. She gave him a stern look and shook his hand. "Alright then, after you," he motioned her forward.


	17. Chapter 17:Eviction

**Chapter 17:Eviction**

As they slowly made their way back to the Jumper Bay Edana intensely thought about the deal she had just made. _Was it a trick? Could they be planning to try and capture me? No, not possible. They are smart, but in no way are they as intelligent as my people. And what about Lorne? I know how much he loves his little twit, but he seems completely serious about his offer. Is he really going to let me go, or is he playing me? Alright Edana, keep an open mind, be prepared for anything._

Her thoughts were interrupted by Alexa's faint voice. "He's right you know, my life is pretty messed up. I'm still not sure if us getting back together was a good thing." Alexa knew what Marcus was doing and was trying to convince Edana that it wasn't a trick. "Looking at things now, I'm not sure if I want my life back. You should go, live. You had the better life, it's only fair…" Alexa's voice faded off.

_What? Now she wants to die. This is too weird, something… My dreams, she saw them._ Edana continued to struggle with the matter at hand as they entered the Jumper Bay. Her eyes quickly scanned the large room looking for anyone who was lying in wait to attack, but she saw no one.

Lorne continued on and when he noticed she had stopped he turned back to her, "Are you coming?" He motioned towards Jumper 2. They walked through the center of the bay and over to the Jumper. Edana had no clue that several pairs of eyes were trained upon her, waiting for her to step foot into the Jumper. Suspicions still flew through her mind and she stopped just before entering the Jumper, with Major Lorne already inside. "Something wrong," Lorne asked, irritated. Edana didn't answer and again she scanned the Bay for the others. Lorne thought quickly on his feet. _Great, now what? _"Alright, guess now's a good time. Let me talk to Lexa."

Edana looked the Major in the eye, "Are you sure about all this?"

"Yes. Like I said, I'll take you where ever you want to go, just let me talk to her one last time."

Edana was hesitant, but then she nodded and relinquished control. Alexa looked at Marcus distraught. She didn't know what to say, as she didn't want to mess up whatever he had planned. Lorne spoke up, "I'm sorry. There's nothing we can do. I just wanted to tell you myself, say good-bye, get a hug." He winked at her.

As Alexa stepped up into the Jumper Edana realized it was a trap and took control. Again with a flash of light and a wave of her hand, Edana tossed Lorne hard across the Jumper and head first into the wall. Before she could turn around Ronan shot her with his blaster and as she fell to her knees she turned to face him. Then, Colonel Sheppard stepped out of Jumper 1 and hit her with the amped up stunner. As Teyla and McKay joined them at the back of the Jumper, Alexa's body fell to the floor and a body that resembled fire floated out. "This isn't over," Edana yelled, and before Colonel Sheppard could blast her again she floated out through the roof of the Jumper.

Teyla went over to the unconscious Major as Ronan checked on Alexa, "She's alive."

While Teyla radioed Beckett, Sheppard was barking out orders to the Security teams and updating Weir on the situation. Whilst the medical team placed Alexa and Lorne on gurneys and wheeled them off to the Infirmary there was a city wide announcement. "Attention everyone, this is Weir. It seems our security breech has just gotten worse. Keep an eye open for a firey astral body floating about, and make sure you are not alone. We don't need anymore possessions on our hands. If you are to see anything, contact a Security team immediately." As she ended her statement she nodded to the SO waiting to escort her down to the Infirmary, "Let's go."

As the medical team wheeled the unconscious couple in to the Infirmary, Alexa awoke. Before opening her eyes she listened to the commotion around her, as Beckett got things under control. "Alright, put the Major over here, and let's stop that bleeding shall we." Lexa sprang up like a shot the moment Carson finished speaking. "Well look at you. How are you feeling? Yourself I hope," Carson was attempting to keep her calm.

"Me, yeah, I'm fine. 100 percent Alexa Madison, with a side of a headache." Lexa looked over to Marc who was surrounded by aids, "How's Major Lorne?"

As Sheppard's team gathered around, and tried to stay out of the way, Carson caught the compassion and concern in Lexa's eyes. "Unconscious at the moment and a little banged up. Took a nice shot to the head, he'll need some stitches, but he'll be fine."

Beckett's words brought Lexa some relief and she tried to relax. Beckett went over to take care of Lorne and an aid brought Alexa some aspirin. She graciously accepted it as she kept her eyes on Marc. A few minutes later as Beckett was putting a bandage on Lorne's head Dr. Weir entered. She noticed Carson at work and went over to where Colonel Sheppard's team had gathered near Alexa. She was about to speak to the Captain when she noticed Lexa had her eyes firmly fixed on the injured Lorne. Weir sighed as she put this and Lorne's earlier behavior together. Beckett finished up with Lorne and came over to join the others. "How's he doing," Weir asked.

"Still unconscious I'm afraid. The gash above his eyebrow there isn't too serious, but it did need 6 stitches. He'll have quite the headache when he wakes up, but other than that he'll be fine," Beckett reported as he noticed it was getting rather crowded. "Um, Colonel, don't you have an apparition to catch?" Sheppard nodded and motioned his team to the door.

"John, wait." Weir stopped them before they left and pulled Carson over to join them by the door. "What about Captain Madison? Are we sure it's really her?"

"Aye, and just to be safe I'll be taking another cat-scan to be sure," Carson replied. Weir nodded and left with the others, as her former escort stayed behind to secure the Infirmary. Beckett returned to Alexa and after several minutes of stubbornness finally got her to agree to the cat-scan. Afterwards, she assured him she was fine and she went over and took at seat on Marcus' bed. She looked down at him and then closed her eyes in frustration, she could just kick herself. She got up and began to pace next to him. "Urg! This is all my fault. Why'd I have to go and open the stupid urn. Me and my bright ideas. Ah!"

She couldn't help but beat herself up, and since she was preoccupied with this she didn't even notice when Lorne opened his eyes. "Um, could you not do that, it's making me nauseous."

Lexa stopped and look at him, then she smiled. "You're awake," she said softly as she walked over to him.

Lorne reached up to his forehead and felt the small bandages, "Yeah, and with a splitting headache."

Lexa giggled slightly. "That's not funny," she said with a smirk.

"Made you laugh," Marc pointed out. Lexa rolled her eyes and bent down to kiss him. The short yet passionate kiss was enough to assure Lorne that he had his girl back. "It's nice to have you back."

"It's nice to be back," Lexa adjusted his pillows as she helped him sit up. "Well, looks like you were right. I've been here two days, and it already feelings like I'm living in here." Lorne grimaced as he laughed due to his headache and sore body. "Let me go get Beckett."

Lorne grabbed her hand as she turned to walk away, "Nah, I'll deal. Come here." He pulled her over to the bed. "You're all I need." Again they kissed, then made themselves comfortable on the tiny bed.


	18. Chapter 18:The Face Off

**Chapter 18:The Face Off**

For Colonel Sheppard, his team, and anyone else involved in the hunt for Edana, the next few hours were pure grief. They were able to track her on the sensors, but whenever they got close to her she'd phase through the wall or ceiling and escape. McKay and Zelenka were busy tweaking every stunner they had to emit a high voltage blast. And through all this, Lorne and Lexa slept peacefully down in the Infirmary under Beckett's every watchful eye. At one point Sheppard radioed to Beckett asking if it was possible for Alexa to leave the Infirmary and assist in any way. She had shared her mind with Edana, and he hoped she'd know something they could do. But to his dismay, Carson informed him that she was free to go, but that she had stayed and was sleeping. Of course, he had left out the part where she was sleeping all snuggled up with Lorne.

Just after dusk Alexa awoke and was starving. For a moment longer she lay with her head rested on his shoulder, debating whether or not to get up. Finally she realized that he'd be hungry too, so she decided to go grab some food from the Mess and bring it back here. Slowly she pulled up out of their embrace, being sure not to wake him. She gently kissed his cheek and began to walk to the door, but was stopped by the sound of Carson's voice, "And where are you off to?"

"Food, I'm starved. Mind if I bring some back for Marc?" Ah, Lexa's tongue didn't slip, she just gave into the fact that the senior staff knew what was going on between them.

"No, that's fine, but you need an escort. Oh, and Colonel Sheppard would like to speak with you about our, uh, intruder," Carson informed her of the Colonel's request.

Alexa sighed, for she wasn't in the mood to deal with this. "Right, of course he does." The SO moved to go with her, "No, stay here Sergeant. I can handle myself, just give me that." Lexa wasn't about to leave Marc unprotected. The SO gave her a hand-held stunner, which she tucked in the small of her back, and she left for the control room. The closer she got to Stargate Ops, the fewer people she saw, so she figured Weir had order a curfew to keep them out of the way of the search. Beckett had radioed Sheppard that Alexa was on her way, so he too made his way to the control room. Ironically they entered at the same time from opposite sides and continued up to Weir's office.

"So, Captain, any ideas on how to catch this thing," Sheppard asked hopefully.

Lexa still felt some sympathy for Edana, even after what she had done, "She's not a thing, she's an Ancient, and her name is Edana." She received a surprised stare from them both and sighed. "Honestly sir, I think we should just let things be, let her make a move. I can guarantee she'll try possession again. The good news is she can only possess those with a powerful, naturally occurring ATA gene, so that severely limits possible hosts."

"Oh great, not only do I have to worry about catching it," Sheppard received a foul stare from the Captain, "uh, _her, _but now I have to worry about getting possessed."

"I doubt it Colonel. She wants to live again, so I'm pretty sure she'll be going for a female host," Lexa pointed out with a smirk.

"Well that limits things even more," Weir concurred.

"Yes ma'am, and other than that, I'm not sure how much more help I can be. So if you'll excuse me, I'm famished."

Weir stopped Lexa as she took a step towards the door, "And just where do you think you're going? Alone?"

Sheppard laughed. "Um, I think she was unconscious for that announcement. You're headed to the Mess?"

Lexa nodded, "Yes sir, just to grab a few things to take back to the Infirmary."

"Well I'll gladly be your escort Captain. Lorne will never forgive me if I let you go alone." Sheppard smiled as he accompanied her out the door.

They made there way through the now empty corridors of Atlantis, keeping an eye out for Edana, neither one of them saying a word until Colonel Sheppard picked up a fast moving blip on the life signs detector, "Looks like we're getting company." Sheppard readied his stunner as Lexa pulled the hand-held out from her back and did the same. There eyes shifted back and forth between the life signs detector and the empty corridor in front of them, as they waited for Edana to appear.

"Lexa." A ghastly voice echoed behind them, they turned to see nothing. "Lexa." Again the ghoulish voice echoed through out the corridor with no sign of Edana. Without knowing where she would strike from they took positions facing away from each other. "Boo!" Edana phased down from the ceiling between them and sent them both flying. Colonel Sheppard hit the wall while Alexa went tumbling down the hall. She pushed herself half up and looked towards Sheppard, "Colonel?" She received no response. As she climbed to her feet she glared at Edana, "Just you and me then, seems fair enough. But this time, we're on my turf."

Down in the Infirmary Beckett was checking on Lorne's bandages. His eyes opened and he flew up, "Doc, where's Lexa?"

"Not to worry Lad, she's gone to talk with Colonel Sheppard, and she'll be returning with some food," Carson replied.

"No, she won't." Lorne jumped out of bed and began changing back into his uniform.

"Major, please sit back down. That's a nasty laceration you've got there and you need your rest," Beckett tried coaxing Lorne out of what ever he was planning to do.

It was pointless, Lorne continued, putting on his vest and holster, but as he walked to the door he was stopped by the SO. "Stand down Sergeant."

"Major, I can't allow you to leave," Carson offered apologetically.

"Look Doc, I can't explain it, but Lexa's in trouble and I need to go." After seeing them together earlier Carson just couldn't say no. He nodded to the SO who moved out of the Majors way, and Lorne jogged out of the Infirmary.

Back in the dark hallway Lexa and Edana prepared to face of. "I beg to differ," Edana countered Alexa's previous statement while she ran towards the Captain. As she ran into her she pulled Alexa out and her body fell to the floor.

Alexa now stood as an astral body herself, but unlike Edana she radiated in shades of blue. "What the hell did you do to me?" She received only a smirk from Edana and then they began to fight. They were pretty much evenly matched, for every shot one threw the other blocked, and this continued for several minutes.

Major Lorne rushed through Atlantis trying to get to Alexa in time. His dream, or perhaps maybe premonition, had shown him what Edana was going to do and he knew exactly where he needed to be. As he raced down the final corridor he saw Colonel Sheppard lying in the corner with moving lights coming from around the bend. He reached down to check on his CO, make sure he was still alive, then turned around to find Lexa's lifeless body.

As Lexa fought she noticed Lorne enter the hallway, and she gathered everything in her to knock Edana back. She swung a Tornado kick and threw Edana through the wall into another room. As Lexa turned back to Lorne he was sliding across the floor over to her body. She spoke as she went over to him, "Don't worry I'm alright, well, sort of."

As he checked for a pulse he heard her voice and looked up to see a bright blue glowing Alexa, he was too late to stop his dream from becoming reality. "And how exactly is this alright?"

"Well, um, it's gonna _be_ alright."

"Look out," Lorne yelled as he saw Edana come back through the wall.

Alexa turned around in the nick of time to almost miss a flaming bolt thrown at her by Edana. The bolt grazed her cheek, but as an astral being the wound healed almost immediately. Lorne was too distracted by the fight continuing on in front of him to notice the abrasion that appeared on Lexa's cheek or that Colonel Sheppard was coming to. It seemed that as Lexa's astral self healed, her body took up the injury.

Colonel Sheppard slowly opened his eyes to the light battle taking place a few feet away. After a moment or two he had collected himself and could now see that thee were two beings facing off and that one of them was Alexa. He quickly made up a plan, and with Alexa between him and Edana he knew what he would have to do. He grabbed the stunner and jumped to his feet, "Captain duck!" He shot the stunner at the spectacle of lights.

Alexa turned around and threw up her hands in protest. At that moment Edana threw a flaming bolt through her left shoulder, as Lexa yelled "Colonel, no!" and grimaced with pain. As her wound quickly healed she turned back around to Edana her hands still up. The blast from the stunner circled around Alexa and into Edana. As Lexa realized the power to move things was her own Edana fell to the ground. She heard Colonel Sheppard behind her radioing to McKay, but she kept her eyes on Edana, until she heard an "Oh no," out of Lorne.


	19. Chapter 19:It's All About The Plan

**Chapter 19:It's All About The Plan**

Lorne watched as the stunner blast maneuvered around Alexa and into Edana. _Did Lexa just? No, not possible._ He had seen it with his own eyes, but couldn't believe it. He was still on the floor next to Lexa's body and as Colonel Sheppard radioed McKay he looked down at her. "Oh no." There was a hole through Alexa'a shoulder and it was bleeding profusely. He quickly put pressure on the wound, "Colonel, get Beckett down here now!" Sheppard looked over and quickly obliged. Lexa quickly spun around and asked what was going on. "Uh, do you not see this? You mind getting back in here," Lorne pressured.

Lexa noticed her serious wound and realized how much it was going to hurt, "Um, I'm not sure I want to."

"Lexa!" Lorne was getting annoyed.

"Oh all right." Lexa walked over and laid down into her body. A moment later her eyes flew open, accompanied by a scream of pain. "Dear god! This hurts more than getting shot!" She clenched her teeth in pain.

"Just try and relax, Beckett's on his way." As Lorne spoke, Beckett and two aids with a gurney flew around the corner. "See, no worries. Alright, let's get you up." Colonel Sheppard lended a hand as the two of them got Lexa to her feet and up onto the gurney.

Before they wheeled her away Lexa asked Colonel Sheppard what his plans were for Edana. "Well, we're gonna put her back into the urn, and put it back where we found it," Sheppard said sharply.

Lexa breathed heavily as pain shot through her shoulder, "Could you hold off on putting it back sir, I might have another idea."

Beckett cut off the conversation, "Well, that's going to have to wait, we need to get you into surgery." As they took off with Alexa, McKay came around corner with the urn. He went over to Eana and opened it. In just a few seconds Edana was sucked up into the urn. "Ok, now let's get rid of this thing," McKay urged.

"Eh, we gotta hold off on that. Apparently Madison has another plan," Sheppard informed him.

As Lexa came out of surgery, Carson informed Lorne of the damage. "We had to completely repair her rotator cuff and she's lost a lot of blood." At the mention of blood, Lorne looked down at his uniform. "She's not going to be awake for quite some time. Why don't you go get cleaned up and I'll keep an eye on her."

Lorne was hesitant, but then accepted the Doctor's offer. "Right. Thanks Doc." Before leaving, Lorne went over to Alexa and kissed her forehead, "I'll be fast, I promise."

After showering and grabbing a bite to eat Lorne entered the Infirmary wearing civvies. Also being under Doctor's Supervision, Beckett changed his bandages and insisted he lie down and get some rest as well. As the hours passed he fell asleep and dreamed of a day he had planned for forever and wished was in their near future.

At about 0600 Alexa began to wake up. She looked at her arm in a sling, shoulder bandaged. _Well, at least it's still there, that's a plus._ She turned her head and saw Marc sleeping in the adjacent bed. A tired Carson noticed one of his patients awake and strolled over. "You want me to wake him?" Lexa smiled and shook her head. "How are you doing? Feeling any pain?"

Lexa spoke softly, "No Doc, I'm alright. But um, I could go for some waffles. I never made it to the Mess last night."

Carson chuckled lightly, "I think that could be arranged. You rest, I'll see what I can do."

About 15 minutes later, just as Lorne was waking up, Sheppard, Ronan, Teyla, McKay, and Weir all entered. By this time Lexa was wide awake. "Wow, it's a regular ol' party in here."

Sheppard smiled. "Yep, and we even brought food." He handed them both a plate of breakfast.

"Yes! You gotta love pancakes with syrup traps!" Lexa grinned. "Um, minor set back. I've only got one arm."

Being the best boyfriend in the world Lorne cut up her waffles. "You're awfully chipper."

"Well, Beckett's got me on some good stuff. Oh, Colonel, about what to do with Edana. Um, well I was thinking…" Lexa explained her idea to the group. Even after all Edana had done to them she couldn't just leave her trapped in the urn for all eternity. She just wanted to live, and Lexa had an idea. But she insisted she be part of the mission, and under Beckett's order she was on bed rest for a week, so it had to wait.

With a wound as serious as Alexa's and their ability to now dial Earth, any other person would have sent back for recovery, but with Alexa's stubbornness and her want to go on the mission she stayed in Atlantis. Her wound was also serious enough for her to be considered for a medical-discharge, she would be going through a few weeks of therapy when she returned to Earth, but ultimately it was up to her. After a few days she finally convinced Beckett to allow her to go up to the control room to have a video conference with General O'Neill, but she had to go in a wheel chair which irritated her beyond belief. She insisted the conference be private, so Weir kindly gave over her office.

"Hey kid how ya doin'?" Ah, good ol' Jack.

"Uh, well, let's see, there's a hole in my shoulder, I'm in a wheel chair, the whole senior staff knows about Marc and I. Other than these great pain killers Beckett's got me on, I'm not doin' so well," Lexa explained cynically.

"They got you, in a wheel chair? I thought I'd never see the day. Um, the whole shoulder fiasco, might not be such a bad thing. I believe it could help you out with the against-Regs-relationship thing." Jack was in an awfully good mood.

"Ok, seeing as how that's the reason you wanted me here, I know you've got something up your sleeve, so I'm listening," Lexa waited for some good news.

"Well, if you take the medical discharge, then your relationship won't be against Regs." Lexa went to speak. "Ent, I'm not done. Ok, now I know that means he'd be there and you'd be here, so that wouldn't be such a great plan, but, you can read Ancient, you're good with your hands, and I've heard about this little power you seem to have picked up there. So, I've talked to a few people, and after your recovery, it looks like you'd be able to go back." Lexa brightened. "Don't thank me just yet, nothings final. We still have to see if your discharge goes through, that is, if that's what you want?"

"Hello! Yes! Oh my god Jack, I can't believe you're serious," Lexa beamed with glee.

"Yes, totally serious. Oh, and I'll be accepting payment in the form of chocolate, beer, Simpson's on DVD, hugs, you know, the usual."

"Yeah, you can have all that and more." Tears began to fall down her cheeks, "Thank you."

"Don't mention it. I love ya kid. Well I gotta get back to work, which at the present moment involves working on my basketball skills with some paper and a trash can. I'll pick you up at the SGC in a few days, see ya then!" Jack waved as the transmission cut out.


	20. Chapter 20:Letting Go

_Minor Spoilers for Epiphany_

**Chapter 20:Letting Go**

It took the next three days for Alexa to get Lorne to agree with Jack's plan. He loved it, he did, he just wasn't 100 percent sure about it. But all it took was a little pushing and assurance, along with Lexa's great smile for him to go along with it.

Finally, they got the okay from Beckett to proceed with the mission. For the past two days Lexa's blood count had returned to normal and was stable, so he released her. They were heading off-world to deal with Edana, so only a few people were required. Seated in the Jumper were Colonel Sheppard, Teyla, Ronan, Major Lorne, and Alexa. The Gate connected and they flew through to the planet that Sheppard had recently spent months on. "I gotta say, I am not happy to be back here. I've totally had my fill of this planet."

"Not to worry Colonel, we won't be getting that close to the Cloister. I think we should release her just outside of the ridge, let her decided." Lexa reassured the Colonel.

Lorne still wasn't sure if this was going to work. "Are you sure she'll be able to ascend. I mean, yeah, she's an Ancient, but look at all she's done. She's kind of, evil."

"She's not really evil, she just caught a bad break. Besides, I have two words, Anubis, and Ori." Lexa pointed out that anyone could ascend, no matter good or evil.

"Good point." Lorne admitted defeat. "Okay, so what's the plan for when we release her?" As Sheppard landed the Jumper, closer to the Ridge than on their previous visit, Alexa explained. She reminded everyone that they were just there to make sure Edana didn't try anything, and that she would do all the talking. They made their way up the Ridge and stopped about 100 feet from the doorway to the Cloister, as Sheppard insisted he would get no closer.

Teyla set the urn on the ground and they all circled around. Lexa stepped up to it, removed the lid, and stepped back to her place in formation. The others readied their stunners as Edana emerged from the urn. She looked around and then focused on Alexa. "What is the meaning of this," Edana hissed as she hovered above the urn.

Lexa could tell by Edana's tone that she wasn't in the mood to make any deals. "Just hear me out. In no way is this a proposition of any kind, I may have found a way for you to be with Keegan again."

Edana's feet touched the ground, for the mention of her fiancé's name overwhelmed her with emotions. She gathered her feelings and spoke, "You pulled that from my dreams, I'm impressed. Now just how do you plan on doing this?"

Lexa spoke confidently, "A few weeks ago Colonel Sheppard happened upon this place. Just through this ridge lies the Cloister, a place where time passes at an accelerated rate. A place where Ancients come, to follow the final path to ascension."

Edana was confused, for the Ancients did not discover ascension until after her confinement in the urn. "What is this 'ascension' you speak of?"

"It's following a higher path of enlightenment, where you shed your physical body and exist as pure energy. I'm kind of hoping that sense you're already half way there, that you'll be able to ascend with no problem, almost immediately. Unfortunately, there is only so much I could do, so we're leaving you here whether you decide to enter the Cloister, or not," Lexa explained.

After a few minutes of contemplation Edana agreed and Lexa and Lorne walked her to the entrance. The coupled stopped, and Marc put his arm around Alexa's back, as she leaned into him and put her's around his waist. Edana continued the few paces to the doorway and before stepping through she turned to them, "Nothing can change what I have done, all I can offer is an apology. Thank you."

They nodded and watched as Edana disappeared into the Cloister. Marc hugged Lexa tightly, "Sorry, you'll never know if it worked or not."

Lexa looked up at him and threw a quick smile. "I'll never have solid proof, but I do have a feeling that she'll get her fairy-tale ending." Marc chuckled, and they both took one last look at the doorway before heading back to the others. "It's done, let's go home," she told them and they began the walk back to the Jumper. As they continued on Lexa and Lorne laced fingers, for they know it was the last day they would spend together for awhile.

Edana stepped through the doorway and continued through the cave to the other side of the ridge. She looked around at the beautiful scenery and felt the sun shining down on her. "Alright, now what do I do?" She was unsure of how to proceed. She continued to eye the area around her and then caught glimpse of a swirling orb of light nearing her.

The lights got closer, and right in front of her they took the bodily form of a familiar face. "Just relinquish your fears, and let go." Keegan held out his hand. Edana took it and did as he instructed. As they began to float Edana's color changed from red-orange to brilliant shades of blue. The two kissed and turned to orbs, and floated off to spend all of eternity together.


	21. Chapter 21:One Wish

_Teeniest Spoiler for Coup D'etat_

**Chapter 21:One Wish**

"All set Captain," Weir asked coming down the staircase to stand in front of the Gate.

Lexa broke from her hug with Marc. They had had there own intimate good-bye in private, but couldn't help one last embrace. "Yes Ma'am, but it won't be Captain for much longer."

"Ah yes. Well we hope to have you back soon, Alexa." Weir smirked her good-bye. Keeping her cheerful mood she added, "Sorry Major, but you can't go with her." Lorne blushed and smirked at Alexa. They both locked eyes one last time and then Lexa stepped through the Gate.

Jack was waiting at the base of the ramp, "Welcome back kiddo, took you long enough."

Lexa rolled her eyes, "I'm 26 Jack, enough with the 'kid' stuff already, Dick Tracy." She leered at him. "Didn't wanna leave. Don't even say it, I know." Jack put his arm around her shoulder as they walked up to General Landry's office.

"Ah, nice to see you again Captain. Not gone two weeks and you're already back. Now, about your discharge. Jack's been speaking on your behalf, so I gave to go ahead for approval." General Landry opened a file on his desk. "All you have to do is sign and initial." Lexa tried to keep a straight face as she sorted through the paper work, but ultimately her smile shown through. Landry went over and whispered to Jack, "She's awfully happy about this."

"Ah, well, she's just excited to see what kind of life exists beyond the military," Jack lied for her, but in a way it was true. "Right?"

Lexa looked up as she slid the papers back into the file. "Uh, yeah, right. So that's it? I'm out?" She received a nod from them both, and then she and Jack took their leave.

As they drove to Jack's house their conversation started out innocent enough, but ultimately came back to one thing. "Okay so it's only been two weeks, I still have a room, right," Lexa asked hopefully.

Jack's answer was smug as usual, "Oh, did I forget to tell you, I turned it into a home theater. I'm sorry, you have to sleep on the couch." With her left arm bound Lexa turned and playfully smacked him with her right. "What?" She just laughed and shook her head. "So, you and Lorne got back together fast. Guess things are serious there."

Lexa stared out her window. "I've always loved him, it just took me awhile to realize it." After that, the rest of the ride was silent.

As the month slowly passed Lexa went through intense therapy. She was determined to get back Atlantis as soon as possible. Each week Atlantis dialed in for report and Marc always made sure to send a quick note each time assuring Alexa he was fine. Today was one of those days and Lexa was eagerly awaiting for Jack to return with the small gesture. She heard him pull up and went to the door. As he walked in she knew something wasn't right, "Jack, what's wrong?" Her eyes filled tears. They went over and took a seat on the couch. As he hugged her, he explained that Lorne had been captured by the Genii and that they were working on a rescue. Lexa spent the rest of the night in her room preying he'd be safe.

Another week went by, and by this time Lexa's shoulder was mostly healed. She only had to wear the sling around the house for extra support. At the SGC, Jack waited for an update on Lorne, but instead of a note, Marc stepped though the Gate himself. He had been a POW for a few days, he deserved some time off. He quickly explained things to Jack and told him what to tell Lexa. Jack nodded, "I'd wish you good luck, but you don't need it." Lorne smiled at Jack's reassurance and he quickly scooted out to pick up the things he needed. He also ran into his own place to pick up the most important thing, the thing that for over a year had been burning a hole in his mind and his credit check.

Lexa sat on the couch reading and didn't even move at the sound of Jack's truck, she was afraid of more bad news. Jack entered, "What? You don't tackle me at the door anymore? I've got good news." Lexa brightened. "Lorne's safe. He spent a few days with the bad guys, but we got him back, in one piece. I don't have a note, but I do have special instructions to take you somewhere." He received a puzzled, yet happy, stare from Lexa. "Just get changed." Lexa threw on some jeans, a tight tank, and grabbed her jacket.

Now dark, Jack dropped Lexa off at the park, a few feet from a bench. She questioned him as she got out of the truck and he simply responded, "Don't look at me, but I think you should take seat on that bench there." As Jack drove off a million things flew Lexa's mind. _What the hell is going on?_ She walked over to the bench and found a note, along with two white roses and a pink one. She read the note, "_If there was ever one wish that you wanted to come true, where would you make it?"_ Lexa smiled and made her way across the park to the enormous, lit up, Penny Fountain. As she drew closer she could make out who was standing there. As she realized it was Marc, a tear fell down her cheek. When he turned and looked at her she gave in and ran over. She jumped up and hugged him tightly as he spun her around. As they kissed he slowly set her down. Lexa didn't want the moment to end, as they passionately tongue wrestled, but she had to know, "Why are you here? Not that I'm complaining."

Lorne tried to lighten the serious matter, "Oh you know, get kidnapped by the Genii, earn a few days off, you know, the usual."

It soon popped into Lexa's head that things had to have been very serious for them to send him back to Earth so she strayed from the subject, "So, what's with these?" She held up the roses. "Very sweet, but why are there two white and a pink?"

Lorne set her down on the side of the fountain as he reached into his pocket. As he opened that little black velveteen box he said, "They go with this," and he proceed to kneel. Lexa was in complete awe, with all her worry, she never saw this coming. There in front of her was her prince, holding the most beautiful ring ever. For a moment she eyed the three stone platinum setting with a heart shaped pink diamond sitting between two smaller round white diamonds, then he finally asked, "Will you marry me?"

She looked at him, and with a nod said, "Yes!" He slipped the ring on her finger and they stood up and kissed. If you thought the last kiss was intense, well it doesn't hold a candle to this one.

For the next ten minutes or so they just sat at the fountain and talked. Marc explained things and informed her that they would be going back to Atlantis together, in just over a week. They were soon interrupted by a voice from the other side of the fountain, "So, do I open the champagne, or not?"

Lexa sighed. "Jack!" He walked around to them holding plastic cups and a bottle of champagne. "What do you think?"

As Jack poured the champagne he winked at Lorne, "See, told you that you didn't need any luck." Jack raised his cup, "Okay, here's to you two, and a wonderful, long, bright future together, cheers."

Two hours of chatting and finishing off the champagne flew by, then Marc took Lexa back to his place. After a few minutes of discussing how interesting things would be when they got back to Atlantis, they decided to make things interesting themselves. They moved to bedroom, where the rest of the night was filled with endless heated passion.

**The End**

_Please review._


End file.
